Two members of the Montana House of Representatives received threatening letters containing white powder Friday.
Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte tweeted, "I've received disturbing reports that Montana legislators are receiving anonymous, threatening letters containing white powder. The state will bring to bear whatever resources are needed to support law enforcement officers as they investigate."
On Saturday, NBC Montana reported that two Republican state House members received the letters containing "an unknown white powder" at their homes.
According to the report, the letters to Republican Reps. Rhonda Knudsen of Culbertson and Neil Duram of Eureka had local return addresses but had "Kansas City post office markings."
The report did not say if it was from Kansas City, Missouri, or Kansas City, Kansas, but CNN reported that about 100 public officials across Kansas received letters containing white powder last week, as did GOP lawmakers in Tennessee on Thursday.
The Tennessee letters arrived at the Cordell Hull state office building on the grounds of the state Capitol in Nashville, the CNN report said.
Both Montana lawmakers said the envelopes contained "vague and threatening letters" and smaller envelopes with the powder, the NBC Montana report said.
"Anonymous actions like this are not expressions of free speech but rather are cowardly attempts to coerce and harm elected officials," Knudsen, who is the House speaker pro tempore, said in a statement to the news outlet. "I will not be intimidated by these kinds of tactics. I also want to acknowledge the very quick response by the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Jason Frederick sent a deputy to my residence and the deputy secured the letter and immediately removed it from my home."
Other state GOP lawmakers also issued statements to NBC Montana regarding the incident.
"These letters mailed to Speaker Pro Tempore Rhonda Knudsen and Rep. Neil Duram containing an unknown substance are a continuation of the threats and hate directed at legislators during the session," Speaker of the House Matt Regier said in his statement. "We pray and hope that the white powder is benign while we await test results. Just as we stood firm during the session, we will not be threatened or distracted now. We are in tumultuous times and House leadership will continue our objective to protect Montanans' freedom and safety no matter what cowardly threats are directed at us."
Montana Republican House Majority Leader Sue Vinton also issued a statement saying that she stood in support of her members and condemned "any acts of intimidation directed at our citizen legislators."
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