Trump and Clinton respond to NYC explosion with promises and critique


Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each responded late Saturday night to the explosion that rocked New York City's Chelsea neighborhood earlier that evening.
"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 really in a time," Trump said at a campaign rally in Colorado. "We better get very tough, folks. It's a terrible thing that's going on in our world and in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. We'll see what it is."
When Clinton responded, she took the opportunity to snipe at Trump for jumping to conclude, absent then-available evidence, that the blast was caused by a bomb. "I think it's important to know the facts about any incident like this," she said shortly before midnight. "That's why it's critical to support the first responders, the investigators who are looking into it trying to determine what did happen. I think it's also wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions because we are just in the beginning stages of trying to determine what happened."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Why the FDA wants to restrict kratom-related products
In the Spotlight The compound is currently sold across the United States
-
Israeli NGOs have started referring to Gaza as a 'genocide' — will it matter?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION For the first time since fighting began in 2023, two Israeli rights groups have described their country's actions in the Gaza Strip as 'genocide' while famine threatens the blockaded Palestinian territory
-
6 classic homes built in the 1950s
Feature Featuring a firehouse-turned-home in Indiana and an award-winning house in Maryland
-
Senate confirms Trump loyalist Bove to top court
Speed Read The president's former criminal defense lawyer was narrowly approved to earn a lifetime seat
-
Ghislaine Maxwell offers testimony for immunity
Speed Read The convicted sex trafficker offered to testify to Congress about her relationship with late boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein
-
Judge halts GOP defunding of Planned Parenthood
Speed Read The Trump administration can't withhold Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood, said the ruling
-
Trump contradicts Israel, says 'starvation' in Gaza
Speed Read The president suggests Israel could be doing more to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians
-
Trump executive order targets homeless
Speed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election