US: Republican National Committee HQ put under lockdown after suspicious package received

Washington, DC [US], May 23 : Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters and surrounding streets on Capitol Hill were put under lockdown on Wednesday morning (local time) after the RNC offices received a package containing two vials of blood, a Chinese philosophy text, and two ice packs, The Washington Post reported, citing US Capitol Police.

According to police spokeswoman Brianna Burch, officers responded to the Republican headquarters, in the 300 block of First Street SE, around 7:45 am (local time), and at mid-morning they were still carrying out an investigation regarding the source of the package, The Washington Post reported.

Earlier in the day, Burch had incorrectly mentioned that the text that was in the package was a "Korean bible." It was not clear whether the package that the RNC offices received was mailed to the headquarters or dropped off.

The Capitol Police's Hazardous Incident Response Unit removed the package and lifted the lockdown by 10 am (local time), Burch said, according to The Washington Post report.

Asked about the incident at the press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it "concerning."

She said the White House has repeatedly said it condemns any political violence, threats, or intimidation, and added that it has no place in the political discourse of the US.

"I have done many times before as you just stated the Capitol police is looking into this so I would leave it to them to investigate what's going on. It is concerning, we've obviously seen the report and we are going to do what we've consistently done from here is condemn any political violence threats or intimidation that has no place in any community and certainly in our political discourse and it is important that we continue to repeat that that has no place in our politics, no place anywhere and so we certainly condemn any form of any form of threats," she said.

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