Cesar Sayoc Jr: Suspect arrested in Florida over mail-bomb campaign reportedly identified

The suspect arrested in connection with the spate of bombs and suspicious packages sent to prominent critics of President Donald Trump has been identified as Cesar Sayoc, Jr, according to law enforcement sources.

The suspect is said to be 56 years old, and reportedly owned a white van that is covered with pictures of Mr Trump, the presidential seal, and the insignia of the Republican Party.

The van was seized by officials in Plantation, Florida, and then hauled off to a secure facility — and American cable news channels covered the van's movement live with aerial footage from a helicopter.

Mr Sayoc is suspected of having sent at least 12 packages containing crude pipe bombs to prominent critics of Mr Trump including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former US Attorney General Eric Holder. The 11th and 12th packages were intercepted on Friday, and were addressed to Senator Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr.

The first suspicious package was delivered to Democratic donor George Soros on Monday, leading the billionaire to urge a return to civility. But, the packages continued to be delivered over the week, with the return address on the packages directed to the office of Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Ms Wasserman Schultz's office did receive at least one package, but she was reportedly not at the facility a the time. The Florida congresswoman previously served as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

It was not immediately clear what have motivated Mr Cesar to allegedly mail the pipe bombs, or if he was directly influenced by the president's tendency to disparage the news media and his political foes.

Mr Cesar is registered as a Republican in Florida, and reportedly has an extensive criminal history. He has owned a dry cleaning business, and a catering business, according to public records.

Soon after the packages were delivered to the various addresses this week, Mr Trump called for unity in the United States — but continued to criticise the news media for spreading what he describes as "fake news".

On Friday morning, Mr Trump suggested that the rash of bombs was a distraction for American voters that is hurting Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

"Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics," Mr Trump said. "Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!"

A review of Mr Sayoc's apparent Twitter account — identified by several news outlets as "@Hardrock2016" — shows that the suspect had previously attended a Trump rally, and frequently shared posts criticising Mr Soros, the billionaire Democratic funder.

His apparent posts also included attacks on Florida gubernatorial candidate and Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum, Mr Obama, and others.

It has been reported that DNA evidence played a role in Mr Sayoc's arrest,