Trump Refers to Beirut Explosion as a ‘Terrible Attack’ in White House Briefing
President Donald Trump declared late Tuesday at a White House briefing that the Beirut explosion was a “terrible attack,” while also offering the United States “deepest sympathies to the people of Lebanon.”
Lebanese health minister Hamad Hassan stated Tuesday afternoon that at least 50 people have died and 2,700 injured from the explosion which destroyed parts of Beirut, Lebanon.
“America’s deepest sympathies to the people of Lebanon where reports indicate that many, many people were killed,” Trump began.
“Hundreds more were very badly wounded in a large explosion in Beirut. Our prayers go out to all the victims and their families. The United States stands ready to assist Lebanon. We have a very good relationship with the people of Lebanon and we will be there to help.”
Trump added, “It looks like a terrible attack.”
During the Q&A portion of the press conference, a reporter, followed up on the matter by asking Trump if he was confident in billing the explosion as an “attack.”
“I want to follow up before I ask the coronavirus question on Lebanon. You called this an attack. Are you confident that this was an attack and not an accident?” the reporter asked.
Trump fired back by claiming he believes it was an attack.
“Well, it would seem like it based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel like it was,” Trump stated. “This was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event.”
“This was a, seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack, a bomb of some kind,” Trump concluded.
However, as Maggie Haberman of the New York Times pointed out on Twitter, the Interior Minister in Lebanon stated earlier that it was more likely an ammonium nitrate explosion.
Lebanon’s security chief, Abbas Ibrahim, has blamed combustible chemicals stored in a warehouse. The interior minister, Mohammed Fahmi, said ammonium nitrate had been among the materials stored and called for an investigation into how it ignited.
Watch above via Fox Business.
