Tennessee GOP lawmakers receive mail with ‘unknown white powder,’ prompting lockdown

Several Tennessee Republican lawmakers received letters containing “an unknown white powder” in the mail, compelling a legislative office building to place its sixth floor on lockdown Thursday afternoon.

The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Nashville District have personnel on scene to investigate the incident, the Nashville Fire Department said in a tweet.

The department also noted that its own personnel responded to a “suspicious letter call at the Cordell Hull Building,” one of the state House office buildings that connects to the Tennessee Capitol’s main building, located in downtown Nashville, The Associated Press reported. The team “donned protective suits and air tanks to test the substance,” and said there have been no transports or reported injuries. 

The FBI further confirmed to The Hill that the agency was working with law enforcement partners to investigate “a series of suspicious letters sent to a number of public officials,” adding that “some of the letters contained an unknown substance.”

The bureau described the issue as an “ongoing matter” adding that law enforcement and public safety officials “are working to determine how many letters were sent, the individual or individuals responsible for the letters, and the motive behind the letters.”

The FBI confirmed there was no indication of a risk to public safety, but said lab testing of the substance was ongoing. More testing, however, is needed “to fully identify the unknown substance in the letters,” according to their statement.

The incident comes after more than 100 elected officials in Kansas found suspicious letters with white powder in their mail. Kansas Republican leaders described the act as a cowardly attempt to intimidate the legislature. 

Jennifer Easton, the press secretary for the Tennessee House GOP, also raised suspicions Thursday that liberal political activists were behind the letters in Tennessee, though there was no immediately available evidence proving or disproving her allegation. Easton confirmed members of the GOP leadership in the state received the letters.

“Members of the Tennessee House Republican leadership today received letters containing an unknown white powder,” she said in a statement to The Hill. “The letters contained obvious threats made by a liberal activist specifically targeting Republicans.”

“The sixth floor of the Cordell Hull Building remains on lockdown while Homeland Security and first responders investigate,” Easton added. “All employees and members in the building are safe.”