Suspect Arrested In Connection With Pipe Bombs Targeting Trump Opponents
Cesar Sayoc is a 56-year-old registered Republican from Florida.
Photo via screenshot Politics Features Political Violence
Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Ft. Lauderdale Florida was arrested this morning in connection with the 12 (as of right now) pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats and CNN. His van was taken away by the FBI this morning, and it is completely covered in pro-Trump stickers.
The van that appears to be connected to the suspected bomber is covered in pro-Trump stickers, including the presidential seal, and what MSNBC says investigators referred to as other “right-wing paraphernalia.” pic.twitter.com/gjIleeu3yb
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) October 26, 2018
This van looks like what Steve Bannon would turn into if he was a Transformer pic.twitter.com/09jB3pJi56
— EL GLIKO (@ElGliko) October 26, 2018
Other people have reached out to media organizations with pictures of a van that looks remarkably similar to the one taken away by the FBI today, although the back windows above have different decals than the one in this picture.
@CBSMiami I have some pictures of this van I saw him at a stoplight one day and thought is was very strange. pic.twitter.com/VWUwznJK8k
— Mahmud mohamed (@thereal_mo01) October 26, 2018
It also looks like we have identified Sayoc’s Twitter, and this was the last tweet he sent.
— Cesar Altieri (@hardrock2016) October 24, 2018
The account on the left has 1223 tweets. It follows and frequently retweets the one on the right, which has over 10k tweets and was established more than a year earlier. pic.twitter.com/tk5XWDMG0Q
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 26, 2018
Trump has also done the opposite of what a president should do in this situation, and if anything, has emboldened more people like this with his comments so far.
Trump hits “globalists” at WH event after call for unity in wake of bomb-scare suspects arrested. Several audience members shout out “George Soros” and others shout “lock ’em up.” Trump chuckles, points and repeats “lock ’em up.”
— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) October 26, 2018
He even seemed to suggest this morning shortly before Sayoc was arrested (calling into question whether he knew this was about to happen before he sent the tweet), that it was a false flag operation.
Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
Like Paste’s Roger Sollenberger wrote today, some people—like Trump—clearly want political violence.
There is almost no doubt as to what this man’s political affiliation is, but we have not heard from the authorities how or if that relates to these bombings targeting high-profile Democrats and CNN. It sure looks like it is what it looks like, but until we get confirmation from investigators, we cannot go out on that limb yet (remember the Gabby Giffords shooting that looked clearly politically motivated on its face, and then it turned out that the attempted murderer said they felt personally scorned by Giffords and it was not about ideology). The Department of Justice has a press conference scheduled at 2:30 EST and we will update this post as more information becomes available.
Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.