Phoenix police and the FBI responded to Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s campaign office on Saturday night, after they received a call over a suspicious package, a campaign spokesperson told The Daily Beast.
“A member of the Kari Lake staff opened an envelope delivered to our campaign office that contained suspicious white powder,” spokesman Colton Duncan said in a statement, adding later: “Just two days before Election Day, our campaign headquarters remains shut down.”
Though Duncan said that two envelopes had been sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico for examination, both ABC News and CNN reported on Sunday night that items recovered in the course of the investigation would be tested in a lab in Arizona.
ADVERTISEMENT
Officers first responded to the area at 10:15 p.m., a police spokesman said, and left at 5 a.m. The campaign said that, in addition to Phoenix police, the FBI, a hazmat team, and a bomb squad responded arrived at the scene.
“Early this morning, Sunday, Nov 6th, the FBI, along with our local law enforcement partners, responded to a report of suspicious letters at an office building near 40th Street and Camelback Road,” the FBI’s Phoenix office said in a statement. “No further information will be released at this time.”
The Daily Mail first reported the story.
“Officers responded to a found property call at an office building near 40th Street and Camelback Road,” Sgt. Phil Krynsky said in a statement. “When officers arrived they learned there were suspicious items located inside the mail. Additional resources responded to collect the items and secure the area. There have been no reports of injury and the investigation remains active.”
The campaign said the staffer is currently under medical supervision.
The incident came less than a week after 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis allegedly broke into the campaign headquarters of Katie Hobbs, Lake’s Democratic opponent for governor. Lake derided the burglary as a potential “Jussie Smollett part two,” though in a tweet from the Lake campaign’s War Room account Sunday, it asked if the media would “immediately accuse our opponent of being responsible for this like they did to us over @katiehobbs WaterGate?”
“We won’t,” it said.
The campaign furthered that resolve in its statement Sunday. “In the meantime, know that our resolve has never been higher and we cannot be intimidated,” Duncan said. “We continue to push full speed ahead to win this election on Tuesday.”
