The FBI and NYPD are investigating a death threat and white powder sent to Manhattan’s district attorney, whose office is investigating former US president Donald Trump.
The letter mailed to Alvin Bragg said “ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, law enforcement sources told NBC News.
The letter also contained a small amount of white powder.
Mr Bragg’s office said the letter “was immediately contained and that the NYPD Emergency Service Unit and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection determined there was no dangerous substance.”
Markings on the envelope indicate it was mailed from Orlando, Florida, earlier this week, the sources said.
The incident comes after a week of speculation that Mr Trump would be indicted by the Manhattan district attorney over alleged hush payments made to Stormy Daniels and another adult film star.
Mr Bragg is leading the criminal investigation into whether Mr Trump paid $130,000 to Ms Daniels so that she would not reveal to the press an alleged sexual affair between them.
A grand jury had invited Mr Trump to testify in the case this week – often a sign that an indictment is close.
In a post on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, Mr Trump warned on Friday of possible “death and destruction” if he is indicted.
“What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?” Mr Trump wrote.
“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely [sic] hates the USA!”
Read more:
How many investigations is Trump facing?
Analysis: The more Trump is portrayed as victim of injustice, the more his supporters rally around him
Mr Trump has been escalating his language in recent days as he seeks to fire up his base to show their support for him in public.
He claimed at the weekend that he would be arrested on Tuesday and called on supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”.
On Thursday, after Republican allies cautioned against violent protests, Mr Trump posted: “OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!”
He also posted a link to an article which was illustrated with a composite image of himself with a baseball bat next to one of Mr Bragg.
The Stormy Daniels case is just one of a slew of criminal and civil investigations that the former president is facing.
His Trump Organization is being pursued by New York attorney general Letitia James over fraud charges, while the US Justice Department is investigating whether he removed classified documents from the White House.
He is also facing charges relating to attempts to change the Georgia election result in 2020 and the January 6 storming of Congress.