*By Carlo Versano*
Two more suspicious devices were intercepted on Thursday ー one in Delaware en route to former VP Joe Biden and the other at the restaurant and office of actor Robert De Niro in Lower Manhattan ー the eighth and ninth to be sent to high-profile critics of President Trump in a period of three days.
NBC's New York affiliate reported early Thursday morning that police were responding to a suspicious package at a Tribeca building that is owned by De Niro and houses his office and the Tribeca Grill. The station said a maintenance worker at the building called police after seeing the news from Wednesday and remembering that he had handled a similar package the day before.
De Niro is a frequent Trump critic who drew headlines in June for blasting the president from the stage of the live-televised Tony Awards with the expletive, 'Fー- Trump.'
Around the same time, multiple outlets also reported that authorities had been dispatched to a postal facility in New Castle, Del. to investigate a package that resembled the suspicious parcels discovered Wednesday and was addressed to Joe Biden. Helicopter footage from the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, Pa., showed a bomb squad member inspecting something with the help of a robot outside a postal facility.
On Wednesday, Trump held a relatively subdued political rally in which he told the crowd he was "trying to be nice" in light of an apparent assassination attempt on his political rivals. But by Thursday morning, he was blasting the media in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055418269270716418) for creating a divisive political environment: "A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News."
John Brennan, the former CIA director to whom a device sent to CNN's New York offices was addressed, [replied](https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/1055436953129246720): "Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful."
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
