Federal probe of letters containing suspicious substances widens as GOP senators report receiving mailings

A federal investigation of letters containing unknown substances that were mailed to elected officials’ offices has expanded as some Republicans have been identified as targets of the mailings, a person with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News on Friday.

Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mike Rounds of South Dakota confirmed that they were among the GOP lawmakers targeted by the mailings.

Two letters were sent to Collins, including one to her Portland office and another to her office in Washington, D.C., Collins’ chief of staff, Katie Brown, said in a statement Friday. Brown said that the letters were intercepted before they arrived and that no one was injured by them.

Rounds wrote in a post on X that his Sioux Falls office had received a suspicious piece of mail. He said that his team alerted the Sioux Falls Police Department after seeing guidance from the U.S. Capitol Police regarding other letters they had intercepted.

“This situation is deeply concerning and follows a trend of intimidating tactics that impact our team members. This has no place in our nation. America is better than this,” Rounds wrote.

The names of the other targeted Republicans have not been revealed, though…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business