Week In The News: Suspicious Packages, Midterm Debates, Saudi Statements

With David Folkenflik

Potentially lethal packages sent to top Democrats, and CNN. The midterm debates go from hot to fiery. On Khashoggi's murder, the Saudis confirm, then squirm. The roundtable dives in.

Seung Min Kim, White House reporter for The Washington Post. (@seungminkim)

Daniel Dale, Washington correspondent for the Toronto Star. (@ddale8)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

CNN: "What we know about the suspicious packages sent to top Democrats, Trump critics and CNN" — "With every intercepted pipe bomb and suspicious package, fear spread from New York to Washington, Florida, Delaware and California. The devices stashed in manila envelopes and mailed nationwide targeted top Democrats, critics of President Donald Trump and CNN.

"None of the bombs detonated, and no one was injured, but the FBI has said additional packages may have been mailed to other locations.
Investigators believe some of the packages might have originated in Florida, according to a law enforcement official. A second law enforcement official told CNN on Thursday that federal investigators were in Florida, chasing down leads."

NPR: "Saudi Arabia Now Says Khashoggi Killing Was Premeditated" — "Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said Thursday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their consulate in Istanbul was premeditated, reversing course yet again on Saudi's account of what happened.

"Khashoggi was last seen alive walking into the consulate on Oct. 2, and Saudi Arabia initially denied any part in his disappearance. Last week, its government changed its story, saying the U.S. resident and critic of Saudi policy had died in the consulate because of a fight.

"Turkey had been especially skeptical of that claim, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated earlier this week that Khashoggi was 'brutally murdered' in a Saudi operation, as NPR reported."

The Atlantic: "The Coming Clashes Between Democrats and Republicans" — "Win or lose, the Democratic Party has crossed a threshold in the 2018 election, pointing it toward even more explosive conflict with a Republican Party that Donald Trump is recasting around white racial anxiety.

"For the first time, white men do not constitute a majority of Democratic candidates in races for the House, Senate, or state legislatures this year, according to new research by the Reflective Democracy Campaign, which studies demographic change in elections. Instead, most Democratic candidates are white women or men and women of color. 'That feels to me like a real milestone,' says Brenda Choresi Carter, the group’s director."

Potentially lethal devices are sent to the nation’s leading democrats — including Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton — and CNN’s New York headquarters, too. The feds are on the case. The president refocuses attention to a caravan of migrants a thousand miles south of the U.S. Trump says he’s a nationalist. Megyn Kelly is out at NBC’s "Today Show." And, the elections are just 11 days away.

This hour, On Point: our weekly news roundtable.

— David Folkenflik