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Initial findings showed that Cesar Sayoc, who was arrested on Friday in Florida in connection with the 13 package bombs, was a Donald Trump supporter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized a white van in which Mr. Sayoc appeared to be living and large sections of which were covered with images of President Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence and stickers, including one that said “CNN Sucks”. Findings show that Mr. Sayoc, 56, a former pizza delivery man, male dancer and laundromat owner, regularly posted messages of support for Mr. Trump and criticised his political opponents, including former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Past criminal record Mr Sayoc’s criminal record showed that he had been arrested eight times prior to Friday, beginning in the early 1990s, on charges that included grand theft, drug possession, battery and fraud. Investigators zeroed in on him based on DNA samples found on two of the devices and fingerprints on the package sent to California Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Congratulating the authorities, Mr. Trump, speaking at the White House said: “We must never allow political violence to take root in America,” adding, “I’m committed to doing everything in my power as President to stop it.” However, shortly thereafter, he tweeted: “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!” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that there would be no tolerance for “such lawlessness, especially not political violence”. Mr. Trump indicated on Friday evening that he was not going to tone down the rhetoric. Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday night, he pointed the finger at the media for using the actions of Mr. Sayoc for political mileage. Obama’s comments Meanwhile, ex-President Barack Obama spoke on the situation in what appeared to be a thinly veiled criticism of Mr. Trump. “I would like to think that everybody in America would think it’s wrong to spend all your time from a position of power vilifying people, questioning their patriotism, calling them enemies of the people and then suddenly pretending that you’re concerned about stability. Come on,” he said in Detroit on Friday. Mr. Sayoc was considered a “model employee” in terms of the work, Debra Gureghian, his former manager at a pizza store, said, although she found his views distasteful. She said he had told her that he was a White supremacist and disliked gay people, Jewish people, African Americans and other non-White people. Mr. Sayoc identified with the Seminole tribe of Native Americans, but his former attorney, Ron Lowy, currently representing Mr. Sayoc’s mother and two sisters, told CNN that Mr. Sayoc’s father is Filipino and his mother Italian, and that his claims were possibly part of his search for an identity, since he was abandoned by his father as a child.
