--- title: President Trump Condemns Political Violence Hours After Saying ‘Bomb Stuff’ Was Distracting From Midterms description: President Donald Trump addressed the taking into custody of man in Florida in connection with the suspected mail bombs sent to high-profile figures and organizations canonical: https://time.com/5436196/trump-addresses-mail-bombs/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-26T17:10:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:51:22.984Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Condemns Violence After Saying 'Bomb Stuff' Was Distracting og:description: "These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country." og:url: https://time.com/5436196/trump-addresses-mail-bombs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd205b5238428b423/69893ce2db2987653e260f97/ap18289756587039.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3628 og:image:height: 2041 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Condemns Violence After Saying 'Bomb Stuff' Was Distracting twitter:description: "These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd205b5238428b423/69893ce2db2987653e260f97/ap18289756587039.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Condemns Political Violence Hours After Saying 'Bomb Stuff' Was Distracting From Midterms > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Oct 26, 2018 5:10 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in the Oval Office on Oct. 16, 2018, in Washington. President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in the Oval Office on Oct. 16, 2018, in Washington. Evan Vucci—AP  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Oct 26, 2018 5:10 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Friday addressed [the taking into custody of man in Florida](http://time.com/5435967/suspect-custody-package-bombs/) in connection with the suspected mail bombs sent to high-profile figures and organizations. “These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country. No place,” Trump said during a previously-scheduled event with a group of young black conservatives. “We must never allow political violence to take root in America.” Trump’s remarks came just hours after the President [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055826295337172993?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1055826295337172993&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fpolicy-and-politics%2F2018%2F10%2F26%2F18026926%2Fpipe-bombs-trump-tweet) that “this ‘Bomb’ stuff” was distracting from the upcoming midterms. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055826295337172993) The person in Florida was taken into custody after investigators responded to two suspicious devices on Friday, one of which was addressed to Sen. Cory Booker and the other to former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Among the other high-profile intended recipients include former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former CIA Director John Brennan. The mailings to Brennan and Clapper were addressed to CNN’s offices in New York. A total of 12 packages have been found so far. Many of the people intended to receive the packages have either personally criticized Trump or have been criticized by him in the past. Law enforcement agents were seen examining a white van with a blue tarp over it Friday morning. [Images posted to social media](https://twitter.com/DarrylNBC6/status/1055842435891372033) depict a vehicle that appears to be covered in stickers celebrating the President. Trump congratulated local and national law enforcement officials for apprehending a potential suspect, comparing the hunt to finding a “needle in a haystack.” He indicated the guilty party or parties would be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law.” _Read President Trump’s remarks regarding the investigation below:_ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5436196/trump-addresses-mail-bombs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5436196/trump-addresses-mail-bombs/"},"headline":"President Trump Condemns Political Violence Hours After Saying 'Bomb Stuff' Was Distracting From Midterms","datePublished":"2018-10-26T17:10:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:51:22.984Z","description":"\"These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country.\"","url":"https://time.com/5436196/trump-addresses-mail-bombs/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd205b5238428b423/69893ce2db2987653e260f97/ap18289756587039.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Vesoulis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd205b5238428b423/69893ce2db2987653e260f97/ap18289756587039.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5436196/trump-addresses-mail-bombs/","name":"President Trump Condemns Political Violence Hours After Saying 'Bomb Stuff' Was Distracting From Midterms"}}]}] ```