Suspicious package ‘sent’ to Hollywood actor Robert De Niro

A suspicious package has been found at a New York restaurant belonging to actor Robert De Niro, US media reports.

The package is believed to have been addressed to the Hollywood actor and delivered to the property on Greenwich Street.

It comes as US authorities step up their hunt for those who have sent a number of packaged bombs to high-profile Democrats.

At least eight suspicious parcels were intercepted before reaching any intended recipients, who included former US President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Obama’s attorney-general Eric Holder.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, prominent Democratic Party donor George Soros and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, were also targets of packages.

All of the targets are frequently maligned by right-wing critics.

The bomb threats aggravated tension ahead of November 6 elections that will decide whether Democrats take control of one or both houses of Congress from Republicans and deny Trump the majority his party now holds in both.

None of the eight packages detonated, and nobody was injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

An FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies “will continue to work to identity and arrest whosoever is responsible for sending these packages”, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

Investigators were trying to track down another suspicious parcel they believe was addressed to Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, a federal official told Reuters late on Wednesday.

The CNN bureau in New York received a package addressed to Brennan, who has appeared as an on-air CNN analyst, leading police to evacuate the Time Warner building in a busy Manhattan neighbourhood near Central Park.

The package contained an envelope of white powder that experts were analysing, Police Commissioner James O’Neill said.