(CNN) - The ricin-tainted envelope intercepted at a Washington mail facility was addressed to Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, CNN reported Tuesday night.
The senator has been assigned a protective detail following the discovery, according to a law enforcement source.
But who is Wicker?
The junior senator from Mississippi, Wicker, 61, was first appointed by former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour to the U.S. Senate in December 2007 after the resignation of then-Sen. Trent Lott. He was then won a special election for the seat in 2008 and won re-election in 2012 to a second term.
Before joining the Senate, he held elected office as a U.S. representative in the House from 1995 to 2007. Before that, he served in the Mississippi Senate.
Wicker was one of 16 GOP senators who voted to end a filibuster against a gun control bill on Thursday. He was also one of the 12 Senate Republicans who dined with President Barack Obama at the White House last week.
"I know Roger well," House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul said on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." "He's a nice guy. I don't know why anybody would want to do this to him."
Wicker serves as deputy whip in the Senate, alongside Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas.
He sits on multiple Senate committees, including Armed Services; Budget; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and Environment and Public Works; and the Joint Economic Committee.
Born in Mississippi, Wicker served in the U.S. Air Force from 1976 to 1980 and later was in the Air Force Reserve until 2004.
When his state was struck by Hurricane Katrina, the then-congressman worked against some in his own party to bring more federal funds to the area.
He's known as a staunch opponent of Obama's policies, especially health care reform, and has an A+ rating with the National Rifle Association.
He has three children with his wife, Gayle, and resides in Tupelo, where he sings in the choir at First Baptist Church Tupelo, according to his Senate website. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he also earned his law degree.
Postal workers started handling mail at a site off Capitol Hill after the 2001 anthrax attacks that targeted then-Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, among others.
Roger Wicker is a guy who sided with the Dems on gun control a few days ago and was mentioned on infowars along with the title "Treason Alert: Dems Try to Move Gun Bill Forward Without Allowing Senators to Read It"
Boston is in a Blue State, famous for the historical "Boston Tea Party, and Patriots Day which was yesterday I believe?.
This was a domestic Right Wing attack. There are militia's out there that have been waiting for decades for gun control legislation to become a reality just so they could finally do something with their "training".
Sounds like the gun lobby was after him for not siding with the regular GOP brownshirts.
Wow. This is not ok at all. Does not matter where your political views are, this is scary stuff. Hope our leaders do what needs to be done to protect the Homeland-both citizens, and leaders.
vote against the NRA filibuster and you get a ricin tainted letter. I know that there are a lot of totally sane and rational gun owners out there and I am one of them but there are groups of anti-everything militia types that are a real threat to this country. Seems odd that right after voting against the gun control filibuster he gets literally toxic mail.
End a gun control filibuster.....dines with Obama......it is pretty clear which direction this threat came from. The party of family values.
These terrorists acts are looking more and more like acts of the white supremest gangs of garbage that comes out of our prisons . These losers need to be excuted.
He's from Mississippi. Who knows what he has done in the past. Still water runs deep.
The fact that he sat down with President Obama for dinner may have irritated more than a few Mississippians.
These repubs better shape up, even though i dont condone this grievous act in no way or form, but these guys need to know that folks are very frustrated with their antics in the congress. Mississippi need more help than most states, and their representatives are not doing nothing to help these folks. their ideologies are taking over their rationality. they need to work with this president to move this country forward and stop obstructing progress, because the ones they are hurting are their own constituencies repubs and dems. its time they open their eyes and move into the new world and not fight like hell to stay in their own generation.
this is what you get for being reasonable.