Suspicious mail for Manhattan DA found

NEW YORK — A powdery substance was found with a threatening letter in a mailroom at the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday, the latest security scare as the prosecutor weighs a potential indictment of former President Donald Trump, authorities said.

New York City police and environmental protection officials isolated and removed the suspicious letter, and testing “determined there was no dangerous substance,” a Bragg spokesperson said. The substance was sent to a city lab for further examination, police said.

“Alvin, I am going to kill you,” the letter said, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The discovery, in the same building where a grand jury is expected to resume work Monday, came amid increasingly hostile rhetoric from Trump. Hours earlier, he had posted on his social media platform that any criminal charge against him could lead to “potential death & destruction.”

The building wasn’t evacuated and business mostly went on as usual. It houses various government offices, including the city’s marriage bureau.

Security has been heavy around the court buildings and district attorney’s office in recent days as the grand jury investigates hush money paid on Trump’s behalf during his 2016 campaign.

Additional police officers are on patrol, metal barricades have been installed along the sidewalks and bomb-sniffing dogs have been making regular sweeps of the buildings, which have also faced unfounded bomb threats in recent days.