CNN was forced to evacuate their New York City office after they reportedly received a bomb threat on Thursday night.
The NYPD is investigating a bomb threat near CNN NYC’s office at Columbus Circle. Due to the threat, the office has been evacuated. Right now CNN is airing taped programming due to the disruption.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 7, 2018
CNN’s Brian Stelter tweeted, “The NYPD is investigating a bomb threat near CNN NYC’s office at Columbus Circle. Due to the threat, the office has been evacuated. Right now CNN is airing taped programming due to the disruption.”
The network was in the middle of a live broadcast of “CNN Tonight” With Don Lemon. Prior to the evacuation Lemon was interviewing Dan McCready, the Democratic nominee in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District, who took back his concession after there were allegations of voter fraud.
We were evacuated in the middle of my live show. Bomb threat. We’re running taped programming. NYPD is investigating. Stay tuned. #cnn #nypd
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) December 7, 2018
They went to commercial and the episode of “Anderson Cooper 360” from earlier on Thursday ran in place of the remainder of Lemon’s live show.
Due to a police investigation at Columbus Circle, West 58th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue is closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Please avoid this area. Update to follow. pic.twitter.com/856GaNYAFO
— NYPD Midtown North (@NYPDMTN) December 7, 2018
The NYPD tweeted a warning to stay away from the area. It said, “Due to a police investigation at Columbus Circle, West 58th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue is closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Please avoid this area. Update to follow.”
CNN, along with a list of prominent Democratic officials, allegedly received potential explosive devices sent from Cesar Sayoc Jr. back in October. (RELATED: Pipe Bombs Sent To High-Profile Democrats, CNN Headquarters)
The package sent to CNN was addressed to former CIA chief John Brennan, who actually appears regularly ionMSNBC.