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Obama Assault Attempt: President Targeted With HIV-Infected Blood

by Tina Kells | February 27, 2009 at 11:00 am

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An Ethipopian refugee, who now lives in Chicago, has been arrested for attempting to infect President Obama with HIV-infected blood by sending him contaminated blood through the mail.

Saad Hussein, who is in his 20's, mailed a letter to President Obama in the days leading up to his inauguration that contained blood stained paper and a ticket to the Grant Park election-night celebrations in Chicago. He sent the letter to Obama courtesy of the Illinois state government.

Hussein is known to suffer from a mental illness and admitted to FBI agents that he cut himself and bled on documents that he then mailed to the President. Hussein also claimed he suffers from HIV.

The arrest marks the second time a person has been charged with sending HIV infected blood through the US Postal Service.

Hazmat teams were called in after the envelope was opened, and offices of the Illinois Department on Aging and the Department of Revenue were locked down for nearly two hours, locking 300 staffers in their offices, court documents said.

Hussein, with his brother acting as an interpreter, told FBI agents he was actually "an admirer" of Obama and was "seeking help from the government," according to court documents. He also told them he was hoping to obtain tickets to the inaugural ceremonies in Washington, the documents said.

Days after sending the letter to Obama, Hussein allegedly placed two more letters in the mail, one addressed to "Emanuel," an apparent reference to Obama's current chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The two letters contained what appeared to be dried blood, the court documents said.

Hussein, who has never held a job in the three years he's been in the United States, was arrested last month. An affidavit filed at the time accused Hussein of "knowingly" mailing letters "containing HIV-infected blood, with the intent to kill or injure another," in violation of federal law.

The affidavit does not address whether the letters could have actually killed or injured anyone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV is spread only through sexual contact with an infected person, through sharing needles with an infected person, or through blood transfusions of infected blood.