Donald Trump tells crowd a ‘bomb went off in New York’ though officials had not confirmed cause of explosion

    Hunter Walker
    National Correspondent

    Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told a crowd at a rally that a “bomb” went off in New York City before any confirmation came from official sources about what caused an explosion in Manhattan on Saturday night.

    “I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York. And nobody knows exactly what’s going on. But boy, we are living in a time — we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough,” Trump told his supporters in Colorado Springs, Colo.

    “It just happened,” he added. “So we’ll find out, but it’s a terrible thing going on in our world and in our country. And we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. And we’re going to end it. We’re going to end it. We’ll see what it is. We’ll see what it is.”

    Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters)

    About two hours later, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference that the explosion on 23rd Street appeared to be the result of an “intentional” act and that there was no indication it was linked to terrorism. According to de Blasio, it was “too early” to say whether a bomb caused the explosion. The NYPD is also investigating a second location on 27th Street.

    Trump, who made the remarks at the start of his speech, quickly pivoted to tout his poll numbers. Trump’s campaign has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Yahoo News about how he may have obtained information about the cause of the explosion that was not publicly available.

    Officials said 29 people were injured, one seriously. An official source in New York City who was briefed by first responders told Yahoo News the explosion occurred in a dumpster. The NYPD Counterterrorism unit tweeted out a photo of the site of the explosion that seemed to show a mangled dumpster.

    Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton told reporters later on Saturday night that she had been briefed on “the bombings” in New York and New Jersey. Another explosion had occurred earlier in the day at a charity race in Seaside Park, N.J.

    This story was last updated at 12:02 a.m., Sept. 18.

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