Police are requesting people stay away from the Columbus Circle area of Manhattan as they investigate what is reportedly a bomb threat.
The threat was reported on Twitter by CNN reporter Brian Stelter, whose feed reads like an illustration of associated events. First, his complaint about a tweet by the President:
Then, less than a half hour later, his report about the bomb threat:
Ten minutes later, confirmation of the threat from his fellow host Don Lemon:
Details of the nature of the bomb threat, or the certitude of one being reported, have yet to be confirmed by the NYPD. CNN and New York’s local NBC News affiliate have verified that, per the Police Department tweet, Columbus Circle is closed to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic while they investigate.
CNN was also a target of a bomb threat in early October, when Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc mailed multiple packages with explosive material to prominent Democrats and other perceived political adversaries of the President.
Update #1: CNN is declaring that they have been given the all-clear to re-enter the building by the NYPD. This mirrors the tweet provided by the NYPD indicating that Columbus Circle is cleared for traffic use.
The NYPD has also updated the timeline for when the threat was made; they have placed the call to which they responded as coming at 10:07 PM.
UPDATE 2: ABC is reporting that a police spokesman confirmed that the threat claimed five bombs had been planted in the building. No bombs were found after a floor-by-floor sweep.
