'Suspicious' envelope discovered in Seattle building housing Rep. Jayapal's office

We are following breaking news in South Lake Union. Seattle Fire's hazmat team is turning over the investigation of a suspicious substance. Right now, FOX 13 crews are working off the 2000 block of 6th Avenue, just a few steps from Amazon Spheres. The building's second floor was cleared out of an abundance of caution. We're also learning the building may be where Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal's Seattle office is located. Seattle Fire says the all-clear has now been given for people to reoccupy the building. Our hazmat team just finished their investigation. They determined that the area is safe to reoccupy the building and that we've turned over any evidence to the United States Postal Services inspectors for them to further investigate. Jayapal sent out a statement within the last few hours confirming the suspicious package. She writes, in part, We are following protocol, and at the time being, my staff and I are safe, end quote. The congresswoman goes on to say the seemingly deliberate and widespread attack on our democracy is unacceptable, end quote. Meanwhile, our Secretary of State's office says a letter containing white powder has been intercepted by law enforcement. Reporter Sean Chidnis is following the developments that comes less than three weeks ahead of the midterms. This letter was intended for the state's elections division. We're here at the King County Elections Office, which had to deal with its own incident with a suspicious letter three years ago. This morning, we had the chance to hear from officials here in King County that tell us it is business as usual and that they have been preparing for all kinds of challenges, including suspicious packages, as we approach the November election. The FBI is saying that they can't confirm any specific reports of suspicious letters, but that they are investigating a series of incidents along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service nationwide that include offices for secretaries of state. Yesterday on X, Washington's Secretary of State's office did say that they learned about this letter being intercepted by law enforcement and that they were working closely with investigators to keep Washington election workers and voters both safe and informed. This is something that we and election administrators across the country have been preparing for all year, right? I think certainly folks who are dealing with this right now, they're in our hearts and minds as election administrators. This office had something similar happen in 2023 where we evacuated. So I think the good news is folks are more prepared to deal with this than they ever have been before. We've been checking with county election officials across this state to see if there have been any incidences reported so far. Of the several that we've heard back from, none say they have reported any issues. We did also learn from the Seattle Fire Department that there was an incident at the federal building in downtown Seattle yesterday where white powder was mailed there. That is being investigated. And that was Sean Chidnis reporting. Secretary of State Hobbs said in a statement on social media, an attack on election officials or candidates is an attack on our democracy. I think our federal partners who are doing everything they can to investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice.