Colorado Springs, Colorado (CNN)Donald Trump on Saturday night described early reports of an explosion in New York City by telling his supporters here that a "bomb went off" in that city.
Trump made the statement before local officials had publicly confirmed details of the incident or what caused the explosion. Typically, national political figures use caution when describing unfolding investigations and law enforcement actions.
President Barack Obama, who spoke soon afterward at the Congressional Black Caucus gala, made no mention of the incident. He was later briefed on the explosion, a White House official said.
"Just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what"s going on," Trump said.
The Trump campaign did not respond to numerous requests for comment Saturday night on whether Trump had any evidence the explosion was a bomb or whether he was in contact with NYC officials.
A law enforcement source told CNN that the explosion occurred around 8:40 p.m. ET -- about 30 minutes before Trump took the stage here -- at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. The New York Fire Department says 25 people were injured in the explosion.
"We"ve got to get very tough," Trump said. "It"s a terrible thing what"s going on in our world, what"s going on in our country, but we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant and we are going to end it."
Trump did not immediately exit his plane as he landed for his rally at an airplane hanger here. He was being briefed on the explosion in New York before he took the stage, a campaign aide told CNN.
The magnate"s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, was told about the explosion at the CBC gala and told her staff to provide her updates as the situation develops, an aide told CNN.
Trump did not return to the reports of an explosion in New York during the rest of his speech.
But he also did not hold back his usual barrage of political attacks.
The Republican nominee gave a standard stump speech during which he repeatedly attacked Clinton over everything from her controversial use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state to what he deemed her coziness with big moneyed interests.
And he also suggested that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who slammed Trump in an editorial earlier Saturday, "probably has a problem we don"t know about."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/politics/donald-trump-new-york-city-explosion/index.html
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