Washington Got The Poison Letter! | Updated!

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) was a target of a ricin laced letter. The U.S. Capitol Police and Secret Service are investigating why this was sent to him, Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) and President Barack Obama.

BREAKING: THE PRESIDENT WAS SENT THE DEADLY SUBSTANCE RICIN. THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE IS INVESTIGATING WHO SENT THE LETTER. 

THE FBI ANNOUNCED THEY'VE CAPTURED THE INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN SENDING THE RICIN LACED LETTERS TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA. 

News is developing out of Washington, DC that a few senators and President Barack Obama were given heads up to a ricin laced letters being intercepted by the U.S. Secret Service and Capitol Police.

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Senator Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) and the president got shaken by an extremist.

According to the Associated Press, law enforcement officials say a second suspicious letter that has been received in Washington was actually directed to the White House, not the Senate.

Two officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the letter was being treated in the same manner as a separate one sent to Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker and was undergoing field tests.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The U.S. Secret Service said it intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama that contained a "suspicious substance."

The letter to Wicker, a Republican, was intercepted at a Senate mail facility just outside Washington and has tested positive for ricin. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) has said authorities have a suspect in mind in that case, though no one has been charged.

Shennell S. Antrobus, a spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said Tuesday night that Capitol Police had been notified by the Senate mail handling facility that "it had received an envelope containing a white granular substance."

"The envelope was immediately quarantined by the facility's personnel and USCP HAZMAT responded to the scene," Antrobus said. "Preliminary tests indicate the substance found was ricin. The material is being forwarded to an accredited laboratory for further analysis."

Antrobus said called the incident a "controlled event" and said operations at the Capitol complex had not been affected by the investigation.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said earlier initial field tests on the substance produced mixed results and that it is in the process of undergoing further analysis at an accredited laboratory. Only after that testing can a determination be made about whether the substance is ricin, Bresson said.

Late Tuesday, Wicker released a statement acknowledging the letter and said it was sent to his Washington office.

"This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the United States Capitol Police and FBI," Wicker said. "I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe."

Terrance W. Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, said in an emailed message to Senate offices that the envelope to Wicker, a Republican, had no obviously suspicious outside markings and lacked a return address. It bore a postmark from Memphis, Tenn.

Mail from a broad swath of northern Mississippi, including the Memphis suburbs of DeSoto County, Miss., Tupelo, Oxford and the northern part of the Mississippi Delta region is processed and postmarked in Memphis, according to a Postal Service map. The Memphis center also processes mail for residents of western parts of Tennessee and eastern Arkansas.

FBI arrest man involved in sending death threat to President Barack Obama and Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). Paul Kevin Curtis is the man sought in ricin attack.

Gainer said there was "no indication that there are other suspect mailings." Yet he urged caution, and also said the Senate off-site mail facility where the initial tests were performed on the letter will be closed for a few days while the investigation continues.

The letter was discovered at a mail processing plant in Prince George's County in suburban Maryland, according to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).

Wicker, 61, was appointed to the Senate in 2007 and won election to a full term last year. He previously served a dozen years in the House.

He has a solidly conservative voting record, so much so that he drew notice last week when he voted to allow debate to begin on controversial gun legislation in the Senate. "I cast this vote at the request of the National Rifle Association, of which I am a member," he said in a statement at the time that added he has a 100 percent voting record in favor of Second Amendment rights.

Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters of the letter. Other lawmakers said they had been provided information by Gainer's office.

Milt Leitenberg, a University of Maryland bioterrorism expert, said ricin is a poison derived from the same bean that makes castor oil. According to a Homeland Security Department handbook, ricin is deadliest when inhaled. It is not contagious, but there is no antidote.

"Luckily, this was discovered at the processing center off premises," Durbin said. He said all mail to senators is "roasted, toasted, sliced and opened" before it ever gets to them.

A congressional official said evidence of ricin appeared on two preliminary field tests of the letter, although such results are not deemed conclusive without further testing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation remains active.

The discovery evoked memories of the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when mail laced with anthrax began appearing in post offices, newsrooms and congressional offices.

Ricin beans are deadly.

That included letters sent to rhen-Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who was Senate majority leader, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). Two Senate office buildings were closed during that investigation.

Overall, five people died and 17 others became ill. The FBI attributed the attack to a government scientist who committed suicide in 2008.

More immediately, though, the discovery came as lawmakers were demanding answers to the attacks in Boston a day earlier.

There was no evidence of a connection between the bombings and the letter addressed to Wicker.


A Mississippi man charged with mailing letters with suspected ricin to national leaders believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market, and on Thursday his attorney said he was surprised by his arrest and maintains he is innocent.

Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, wore shackles and a Johnny Cash T-shirt in the federal courtroom. His handcuffs were taken off for the brief hearing, and he said little. He faces two charges on accusations of threatening President Barack Obama and others. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.