[Rene Marsh, Cnn Anchor:] And good morning. I'm Rene Marsh in Washington, D.C. We are following some developing breaking news. We can tell you at this hour, the Time Warner Building in New York City has been evacuated. Jim and Poppy Harlow, who you saw anchoring, they had to evacuate the studio. We're going to bring in CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, tell us, what do you know about what's happening in New York City at this hour?
[Prokupecz:] Right. So as we were coming on the air just a short time ago with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto, who were anchoring from our set in New York, the fire alarms started going off. Our viewers perhaps could see that. Our building in New York has been evacuated because the NYPD is now investigating a suspicious package, something that was sent to the building at 10 Columbus Circle, which is in New York, and it is our basically our offices in New York, the building that houses our offices in New York. I'm told by a law enforcement official that the bomb squad is responding to the office to check on this suspicious device. We don't know if the package was actually addressed to CNN or to someone else in the building, but as a precaution, the building there, the NYPD along with the bomb squad, have said that the building should be evacuated. And they're going to respond and investigate the package. Obviously growing concern given all the news that we're reporting here this morning about explosive devices being sent to the former president, President Obama, to Hillary Clinton. We also just moments ago reported that a fourth explosive device was sent to the White House and intercepted in a mail room. And now authorities, obviously as I've been saying this morning, are increasingly concerned that there could be more packages, more explosive devices that were sent elsewhere, perhaps around the country, in other cities. So taking no precautions obviously taking over-precautions here, I should say, in that they're now evacuating buildings. If they see something suspicious, authorities in New York certainly are on heightened alert because some of these devices were sent to areas in New York. The NYPD there has stepped up security around locations out of concern. So obviously now we're waiting to learn exactly what was in this package at the Time Warner Center where our offices have been evacuated.
[Marsh:] OK. Shimon, stick with us. We're going to go live now on the phone to Jim Sciutto, who was anchoring but is now outside of the Time Warner Building. Jim, if you can hear me, I guess the first thing I want to hear from you is what is happening now and what are you seeing at this moment?
[Sciutto:] OK. We're standing outside our headquarters here. There's a New York Poppy Harlow is here with me. There's a New York Police Department Bomb Squad Unit here. Also members of the Strategic Response Group. The New York Police Department has a very fast-acting, quick-response group to respond exactly to incidents like this one, including incidences that are suspected of involving terrorism. So we have actually I'm accounting four or five different police units here now at the New York police officers here with the responsibility of removing Poppy and myself, all of our CNN colleagues, there are, well, a couple hundred of us now, out on the street here. Obviously serious enough to evacuate the building, take us off the air from New York. And listen, as it happens, Poppy and I were reporting on the air about the series of other explosive devices received at the residences of Clinton and Obama, at the White House now, and with the new suspicions that those devices were linked. Of course, the question now, whether this one is linked to those. But certainly the timing is, at the very least, suspicious here. And again, just as we're standing here on the street, the police being very cautious, as you would expect them to be. They want us to get as far away from the building as possible because if it is indeed an explosive device sent here, they want to reduce the risk to all of us here. And they don't know if there's something else that might be connected to it.
[Marsh:] Right. So, Jim
[Sciutto:] We are seeing a robust response from the New York Police Department here.
[Marsh:] Jim, we don't have images right now of outside of the building, so if you can set the scene for me, do you get a sense from where you're standing where or the general vicinity of where this device may be in relation to the Time Warner Building?
[Sciutto:] Well, let's see, the police have not told us exactly where the device is, I don't believe. If it's been mailed in CNN, like other organizations in this day and age, they have a screening process for suspicious packages so we don't know. And I can't see from here. In fact, I've taken a picture which I'm going to tweet out now, we don't see an obvious device that's been singled out or cordoned off on the street here. I'm just trying to get a better look. I will tell you, there are a dozen police vehicles now. And again those officers part of the Strategic Response Unit.
[Marsh:] I'm going to interrupt you
[Sciutto:] It's not clear if the device entered that building. That it's not clear if the device was able to get inside the building.
[Marsh:] OK. Stay with us, Jim. We're going to go back to Shimon Prokupecz, who's live in the newsroom here in D.C. And you have more information. Shimon, what can you tell us now?
[Prokupecz:] Yes. Rene, I'm being told by a law enforcement official that, in fact, this suspicious package was found in the mail room, so obviously probably sent through the mail, at 10 Columbus Circle, which houses our offices in New York. I'm told that when they looked at this package, and obviously I have to tell you security all across the country this morning, at offices across the country, has been increased, and folks, you know, looking for these kinds of perhaps suspicious packages. Something in that package concerned them. I don't want to get too specific about it, but there are things in this package, items in this package that were discovered at our offices in New York that concerned security, perhaps the staff in the mail room, that they decided to call the police given the news of this morning, given what's going on with these other explosive devices. The police have moved in, and they're obviously taking every precaution. But I'm told by officials that there are things in this package. They don't yet know if it's explosive material. But certainly there are things in this package that make it look very suspicious and has them concerned. And that's why we're seeing our offices in New York evacuated. I'm also told that the area around Manhattan, around our building, just about a block south, 57th Street, is being shut down.
[Marsh:] OK.
[Prokupecz:] So really what we see in these kinds of situations, the police and the fire department responding, closing down the area, evacuating buildings.
[Marsh:] OK.
[Prokupecz:] So serious concern here from the police in New York.
[Marsh:] All right. Shimon, stick with us. We also have Tom Fuentes, who's joining us here. Tom, I want to bring you into the conversation because right now we're talking about over a span of 24 hours, we have five suspicious devices that have been intercepted. You're looking at this all unfold. What do you make of all of this?
[Fuentes:] Well, Rene, from my perspective, it looks to me like some type of domestic terrorism. Somebody is trying to cause chaos and it may not necessarily be one side against the Democratic Party or another side against the Republican. The fact that we have now the White House receiving a package, obviously with a Republican administration, and now CNN or the area of CNN, the complex of buildings at Time Warner in Columbus Circle in New York, receiving a suspicious package.
[Marsh:] And we're actually look at we're actually looking at a photo that Jim Sciutto just tweeted us from outside of the building there. So sorry to interrupt, but that is a photo of the large police presence there responding outside of CNN. But go ahead. To you, you said this looks like a case of terrorism.
[Fuentes:] Yes, domestic terrorism, someone trying to get you know, cause chaos basically in our process. And now you have buildings being shut down, two former presidents' residences receiving packages or mail directed toward those residences. Fortunately, most of the large public buildings, particularly federal buildings in Washington, use off sites to have their mail screened long before they actually get to the White House or the Capitol or Department of Justice, State Department, FBI headquarters, the Pentagon. They're not received at the building first and then screened.
[Marsh:] Right.
[Fuentes:] So the offers some degree of protection, and the same thing with both former presidents, Clinton and Obama. Secret Service screens their mail so that they're somewhat protected from that. So that's why you have this screening process. And now because of an abundance of caution, they're going to make sure that any possible building receiving anything suspicious is going to be closed down and a major investigation and search launched at those buildings.
[Marsh:] Well, Tom, walk me through this right now because, I mean, clearly this is all unfolding as we speak. What is happening now from the law enforcement perspective? Detail it for me as far as what steps are currently being taken now.
[Fuentes:] Well, the first step is the examination of the devices. How are they put together? Do they look like they were made by the same person or small group of persons? How were they packaged? How were they going to be detonated? And then where were they mailed or delivered from? These were placed in the mail to come to the Columbus Circle mail screening or the White House mail screening or the Clinton and Obama residential screening process. Where were they mailed from? Does that indicate again a small group of persons or a single person? Then the actual devices will be forensically examined in detail for hairs
[Marsh:] All right, Tom
[Fuentes:] fibers, fingerprints, anything like that that can link someone later.
[Marsh:] OK.
[Fuentes:] To the
[Marsh:] OK, Tom. Just pause for me one second because we do want to get back outside of the CNN center. We're following this breaking news. The Time Warner Building has been evacuated and we're joined right now by the anchors who were they were anchoring at this hour but had to evacuate, Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto. What are you guys seeing now at this point?
[Harlow:] So, Rene, I want to tell you that we are outside safely. All of our CNN colleagues that we know of are outside right now. Everyone is safe, as we can see. We do have some reporting. Jim was just able to confirm, I believe, Jim
[Sciutto:] The Strategic Response Group, they are the team that responds to situations like this, they're very quick. They get there within minutes or seconds,
[Harlow:] Right.
[Sciutto:] Caught apparently at screening of the building. But as you see
[Harlow:] Right. And to catch our viewers up, about just a few 10 minutes ago we heard the fire alarm go off while we were anchoring the show, reporting on these explosive devices, suspicious packages delivered to the former presidents' home of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, George Soros and the White House. And minutes later we were told suspicious package at CNN, evacuate immediately. The lights shut off. We walked down six flights of stairs. We're out here. They're now moving us, Jim and I and everyone here from CNN, all the way down the block towards 9th Avenue, very far away.
[Marsh:] And what's the sense, guys? I mean
[Sciutto:] out of the building. And remember, just as we were on the air before this happened
[Harlow:] You can hear the
[Sciutto:] the concern from the FBI was these various packages are linked. Of course the
[Harlow:] Of course, those were in upstate New York, in Washington, now this is in Midtown Manhattan. The police here saying quick, quick, quick, move, move, move. They want us not even across the street, Rene, from CNN. They want us across the avenue, as far away from the building. And by the way, it is not just CNN.
[Sciutto:] Just to set you the scene, the response here and again, one of our colleagues is walking backwards here.
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Sciutto:] They're taking this very seriously.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Sciutto:] And there's another fire truck arriving as well. They're taking it very seriously.
[Harlow:] Yes. You have the best of the best here, you know, for precaution, should this be a danger. But again, this is a huge huge response. There are ambulances, police vehicles, fire trucks. They have actually completely brought us now to West 58th Street. This is one of the main thoroughfares in the middle of New York City that is now completely shut down to pedestrians. Yes. Right. Rene, are you still with us? Can you hear us?
[Marsh:] Yes, we are still here.
[Harlow:] OK.
[Marsh:] Thank you, guys, for kind of laying the land here. I just want to reset before we turn things over to Wolf Blitzer. Again, you guys are there outside of the Time Warner Building. To be very clear, authorities found this suspicious item inside of the Time Warner Building. According to Shimon Prokupecz, it was inside of the mail room.