WASHINGTON—The FBI is trying to determine the origin of more than 100 suspicious letters containing apparently harmless white powder that have been sent to public officials in at least seven states in recent weeks, some with muddled messages and bearing the return addresses of dead transgender people, law-enforcement officials said.
Intended recipients of the letters included Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) and GOP state lawmakers in Montana and Kansas, where authorities have identified scores of such letters, the officials said. While most of the letters went to Republicans, authorities said a motive remains unknown. The U.S. Postal Service intercepted several letters before they arrived at their target destinations, law-enforcement officials said.
The white powder doesn’t appear to be dangerous, based on initial lab testing, but the discoveries have strained law-enforcement resources and shaken public officials who have received them. The suspicious letters have been discovered in Kansas, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Montana, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., and come as law-enforcement officials have recently warned of a sharp increase in violent threats against elected officials, judges, election workers and lawmakers.