FBI and Capitol Police are probing letters with suspicious substances sent to Congress and election offices, envelopes that carried a DSA-linked return address the group left in 2013.

Federal agents and postal inspectors are racing to stop a series of mailings that delivered unknown powdery substances to congressional offices and state election officials across the country. Some packages already reached their targets and forced evacuations. Others were intercepted before delivery.

The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Capitol Police opened the joint investigation after notices went out to Hill staff on Thursday. An FBI bureau spokesperson said the bureau and postal inspectors “are investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices.”

The Post reported that one envelope arrived at Sen. Chris Murphy’s local office in Hartford. A Senate warning email shared with staff included a photo of a suspicious envelope postmarked “DSA” and listing a return address at 75 Maiden Lane in New York’s Financial District, the same building the Democratic Socialists of America once put on membership forms.

A DSA representative pushed back hard on any link. “DSA has not occupied this office address since 2013,” the group said. “We are also no longer headquartered at 75 Maiden Lane.”

Lawmakers and election workers now face the same old nightmare that hit the Capitol after the 2001 anthrax attacks. Then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s office received one of those letters. Five people died and at least 17 fell ill in that earlier spree. Ricin letters later reached Senate offices without killing anyone. This new wave has already emptied buildings.

Evacuations hit Louisiana and Oklahoma election offices

Packages containing a powdery substance were opened at election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma, triggering full evacuations. Similar parcels bound for Ohio, Maryland, Mississippi, and South Dakota never made it that far. The Postal Service stopped them first. Breitbart noted authorities are urging recipients to treat every one of these mailings as potentially hazardous.

Deputy chief postal inspector Brendan Donahue confirmed the probe at a Thursday press conference and left no room for soft language.

“Any threat or attack on an election official is unacceptable.”

The Senate Sergeant at Arms notice that went to staff was equally direct: “Law enforcement officials are working to intercept any additional letters before they are delivered, however, it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations.”

Washington Examiner reporting underscored the same warning, some letters may still slip through despite the interception effort.

That warning lands at a moment when the FBI’s own handling of threats and document releases has drawn sharp scrutiny, including questions over the slow drip of Butler shooting files.

Senate Democrats named as targets

The threat was not abstract. The FBI notified the offices of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Chris Murphy, and Sen. Alex Padilla that letters with suspicious substances had been directed at them. Murphy’s spokesperson Josh Sorbe said the office “was promptly informed of the letter by FBI, SAA, and Capitol Police, and we continue to work closely with them and federal law enforcement.”

Fox News detailed how the Senate and House Sergeants at Arms both warned staff about the multi-agency probe spanning congressional and election offices nationwide.

The pattern fits a larger run of cases in which the bureau has had to move fast on direct threats against elected officials, from arrests over graphic threats against a congressman and the president to internal fights over how threat probes are run.

An FBI spokesperson laid out the operational picture clearly: “Some of the letters contained an unknown substance and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident. We are also working with our partners to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters.” The same statement closed with a pledge that “This FBI will continue to safeguard the public and secure elections for American citizens.”

Just The News reported the same core facts, unknown substances, return addresses tied to the DSA’s old headquarters, and a multi-agency push to intercept what remains in the mail stream.

Similar mailings hit election offices in 2023 and carried both threats and traces of fentanyl. That history is why every powder letter now gets treated as a live hazard until lab results say otherwise. No injuries, illnesses, arrests, or named suspects have been reported in the current incidents. The substance itself remains unidentified in public statements.

Old address, new scare, same accountability gap

The 75 Maiden Lane return address is the detail that turned a hazardous-mail case into a political flashpoint. The building once appeared on DSA membership forms. The group insists it walked away more than a decade ago. Investigators still have to determine whether the postmark and address were meant to point a finger, create confusion, or simply recycle an outdated label. Nothing in the public record yet answers that question.

What is already clear is the operational reality. Election offices in two states emptied their buildings after staff opened powder-filled packages. Four more states saw identical parcels stopped in transit. Multiple Senate Democratic offices received formal notice that they were on the target list. Hill staff were told more letters could still arrive.

That kind of disruption does not stay contained to one news cycle. It forces security upgrades, pulls agents off other work, and reminds every local election clerk that a single envelope can shut down a day of ballot preparation. The same bureau now chasing these mailers has faced its own internal reckonings over threat investigations, including the ouster of counterterrorism supervisors accused of stifling a probe.

Document fights and security lapses have become a recurring theme around the FBI in recent years, whether the subject is lingering questions in the Crooks files or allegations that political figures tried to bottle up sensitive material.

For now the public facts remain limited to the mailings themselves, the evacuations, the interceptions, the outdated DSA address, and the multi-agency hunt for whoever put powder in those envelopes. Lab results, motive, and any charging decisions have not been released.

Election offices and congressional mailrooms should not have to treat every letter like a potential weapon. When they do, the people who sent the powder, not the clerks who opened it, own the damage.