The NYPD are asking the public to avoid Columbus Circle as they investigate a possible bomb threat at the Time Warner Center Thursday night.
A police official said an unsubstantiated telephone threat came in to the Time Warner Building, with the caller claiming there were five bombs in the building.
Security officers evacuated the building as a precaution and called police. A preliminary search by in-house security did not turn up anything, but the NYPD was searching as a precaution.
The threat comes less than an hour after President Donald Trump tweeted about “FAKE NEWS,” which he has often labeled CNN.
“FAKE NEWS – THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE,” Trump tweeted just after 10 p.m.
The cable news network, which has its New York headquarters at the Time Warner Center, had to air taped programming as the facility was evacuated, on-air personnel including Don Lemon and Brian Stelter tweeted.
The timing wasn’t lost on many. One person noted on Twitter, “A CNN building was just evacuated because of a bomb threat not even half an hour after Trump calls the media the enemy of the people again.”
“Trump tweets ‘FAKE NEWS – THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!’ Now the CNN building is being evacuated and taped programming is airing,” said another.
It’s not clear, however, whether the unsubstantiated phone threat was aimed at CNN in particular.
CNN host Chris Cuomo tweeted that everyone was “fine” after being ordered to leave the building: “Thanks for all the well-wishing, but even more so for not making stupid jokes empowering such a threat. People will re-enter ASAP. Onward.”
In October, the building was partially evacuated after a suspicious package containing a crude pipe bomb was delivered to the company.
Jonathan Dienst contributed to this report.
Source : Nbcnewyork
