CNN on Friday uncovered footage from last year appearing to show Cesar Sayoc Jr., the Florida man accused of mailing bombs to a number of Democratic officials and critics of President Trump, at a Trump rally, holding an anti-CNN poster.
The video from the Feb. 2017 rally in Melbourne, Fla., shows Sayoc behind the press riser while reporters were live.
{mosads}CNN’s Rene Marsh said that, looking through Sayoc’s social media, “it is clear that he had his eyes on his targets before he even mailed those suspicious packages.”
“Because you go through, there’s essentially a tweet for almost every person targeted from Cory Booker to the Clintons, to the Obamas, to CNN. He has a negative comment about all of those people on his Twitter feed.”
Sayoc was charged Friday with five federal crimes for allegedly sending packages containing explosive devices to more than a dozen Democratic political figures and former intelligence officials.
CNN was the recipient of one of those bombs, although the package was addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan, who is a contributor at MSNBC.
Earlier Friday, law enforcement officials seized a white van allegedly belonging to Sayoc. The van’s windows were covered in pro-Trump political stickers, one with an image of Trump’s 2016 opponent and intended package recipient Hillary Clinton with a target over her head and another with the slogan “CNN Sucks.”
Asked why the suspect targeted Democrats during a news conference Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that “he appears to be a partisan” but declined to comment further.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “It’s too early at this stage for us to be discussing motivation in this particular case.”