CNN evacuates offices due to ‘suspected explosive device’

CNN was forced to evacuate its offices in midtown Manhattan Wednesday after a suspicious package  was found in the mailroom.

After a suspicious package was discovered in the newsroom's mailroom at CNN's offices at the Time Warner building at 10 Columbus Circle, CNN anchors Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto were forced off the set mid-show, and have been reporting from the street.

The entire Times Warner Center, a popular tourist attraction that houses CNN as well as several popular restaurants and shops, was evacuated, and the NYPD is urging people to avoid Columbus Circle. Bomb squad officials removed the device intact from the building late Wednesday morning and is currently transporting it out of Manhattan in a large containment vessel.

The evacuation was ordered after the Secret Service intercepted explosive devices sent to the homes of former President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. A fourth explosive device was mailed to the home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros earlier this week.

"Speaking with a senior law enforcement official here in NY, there's belief that the package sent to CNN is similar to the packages sent to George Soro, President Obama and Hillary Clinton," NBC's Jonathan Dienst reported on MSNBC Wednesday morning. "So they are treating it as connected at this time."

Vice President Mike Pence condemned the attacks in a statement Wednesday morning:

A CNN report that a fourth device addressed to the White House was also intercepted was denied by the Secret Service.