Trumpland

Pentagon Officials Say Trump Was Talking Nonsense When He Called Beirut Explosion an Attack

LOOSE CANNON

Trump baselessly described the explosion as a “terrible attack” with a “bomb of some kind.”

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Reuters / Mohamed Azakir

Pentagon officials have reportedly said that they have absolutely no idea what President Donald Trump was talking about when he described the gigantic and deadly Beirut explosion as a “terrible attack” carried out using a “bomb of some kind.” On Tuesday, hours after the explosion killed at least a hundred people and wounded thousands, Trump said: “I've met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was not... some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event... They seem to think it was an attack.” But CNN has reportedly spoken to U.S. defense officials who said there is absolutely no indication that it was an attack and, if there was, efforts would have already been made to protect U.S. troops and assets in the region. That hasn’t happened. Lebanese officials have reportedly raised concerns with U.S. diplomats about Trump’s “attack” language. Lebanon has blamed the explosion on the accidental detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate.

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