An explosive device was found at the Westchester County, New York, home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros on Monday afternoon.
In a statement to NPR, the Bedford Police Department said an employee of the house found a suspicious package in the mailbox. They opened it, revealing what “appeared to be an explosive device.” The employee placed the package in a nearby wooded area and alerted authorities.
State and federal authorities responded to the scene in Katonah, a hamlet in the town of Bedford. A bomb squad was able to safely detonate the device, The New York Times reports.
After authorities were contacted, an “extensive investigation” involving the Bedford Police Department, the Westchester County Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI, commenced.
The case has been handed over to the Joint Terrorism Task Force Division of the FBI, the Bedford Police Department says.
Billionaire Soros, an 88-year-old survivor of Nazi Germany-occupied Hungary, made his fortune running a hedge fund.
Over the course of decades, Soros has given billions of dollars away in philanthropic efforts — including $18 billion to the Open Society Foundation, which he founded in 1993. The left-leaning OSF works to “build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.” (The OSF has been a financial supporter of NPR.)
He frequently donates to Democratic candidates and progressive causes. Soros became a well-known political figure when he donated nearly $24 million in 2004 to groups opposed to President George W. Bush’s re-election. The billionaire has remained a steady Democratic benefactor.
His political donations have made Soros a favorite target of conspiracy theorists and anti-Semitic slurs. Some conservative commentators, such as Glenn Beck, and Hollywood figures, such as Roseanne Barr, have falsely claimed that Soros was a Nazi collaborator.
At least two Republicans have recently claimed Soros bankrolled a caravan of migrants currently headed to the U.S., including President Trump. The president also said that two women who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator during the hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assault were “professionals” paid for by Soros.
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