Minnesota Officials Receive Powder-Filled Threat Letters as 133 Federal Threat Cases Set 2025 Record
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Oct 16
Minnesota Officials Receive Powder-Filled Threat Letters as 133 Federal Threat Cases Set 2025 Record
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Oct 16
Summary
Postal workers intercepted suspicious mail Friday addressed to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Kelly Morrison; one letter to the election office contained threats and an unidentified white powder.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is testing the substance, while the FBI is involved after Morrison's Plymouth office received a letter that prompted a fire department response.
Simon said the mailing appears linked to a broader series that began when a similar letter reached Louisiana's Republican secretary of state on Tuesday, though investigators have not determined motive.
Retired postal inspector Peter Holt said white-powder letters are usually meant to frighten rather than injure, a tactic resurfacing as threats against elected officials and election workers climb.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha counted 133 federally charged threat cases in 2025, topping the previous record of 104 in 2024, as Minnesota's early voting is already underway before the Nov. 3 election.