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Police find nothing hazardous after part of U.S. Capitol complex evacuated



    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities found nothing hazardous in two U.S. Senate office buildings after investigating reports of suspicious packages and a telephoned bomb threat, U.S. Capitol Police said on Tuesday.

    Spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said police cleared a room in the Dirksen building and the courtyard of the Russell building, both near the U.S. Capitol, and found nothing problematic.

    Part of Dirksen was evacuated after Capitol Police received a bomb threat by phone call, and police investigated a report of a suspicious package in that building.

    People were not cleared from Russell, where an unattended lunch cooler was reported as a possible suspicious package, Schneider said.

    The two buildings house various offices for U.S. senators and their staff as well as hearing rooms.

    The Dirksen building evacuation interrupted a Senate hearing on the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for security at airports.

    "The threat was determined false," said Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who came back after the all-clear to close the hearing he chaired.

    (This version of the story was refiled to correct a typographical error in last paragraph)

    (Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Writing by Susan Heavey and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Will Dunham)