White House says HBCU bomb threats ‘certainly disturbing’
President Joe Biden has been informed of the bomb threats made towards a group of HBCUs for the second time in less than a month.
White House staffers are keeping their eyes on the investigation into a series of Monday morning bomb threats delivered to HBCU campuses across the country.
Law enforcement officials and staffers at Howard University, Albany State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Bowie State University, Delaware State University, Southern University and A&M College, have all confirmed receiving bomb threats on Monday, according to multiple sources.
It’s the second time in less than a month that a group of HBCUs has received threatening messages about explosives being planted on their campuses.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday that President Joe Biden is aware of the HBCU threats.
“I will say that these are certainly disturbing and the White House is in touch with interagency partners, including federal law enforcement leadership on this,” Psaki said during a White House press briefing on Monday.
“We’re relieved to hear that Howard and Bethune-Cookman universities have been given the all-clear and we’ll continue to monitor these reports,” she continued. “The president is aware. I don’t believe he’s received a formal briefing, but he is aware of these reports.”
U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and André Carson (D-Ind.) issued a joint statement Monday afternoon saying they too were “deeply disturbed” by the HBCU bomb threats and have requested more information about them from the FBI.
Schiff is the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Carson is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation.
“There is no denying the surge of racially-motivated violent extremism and the threat it poses to our nation,” the lawmakers told theGrio via email. “We will remain focused on ensuring that all appropriate resources are utilized to identify and prosecute the perpetrators of these threats, and to combat the scourge of white supremacist violence and terrorism.”
Earlier on Monday, FBI officials told theGrio that they are working with law enforcement to “address any potential threats.”
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. told theGrio some of its officers responded to a call about a threat at Howard University’s Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Administration Building on campus around 4:22 a.m. before giving the all-clear hours later.
Bethune-Cookman officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Albany State administrators closed all of the Georgia school’s campuses until further notice on Monday after receiving a threat to their academic buildings, a university spokesperson told theGrio.
Bowie State University near Baltimore transitioned to virtual classes on Monday after receiving threats of their own, according to a campus emergency alert shared on Twitter.
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