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Trump Brags About New York Bombing: 'I Called It Before The News'

'I should be a newscaster,' he boasts.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S., September 17, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Mike Segar / Reuters
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S., September 17, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump patted himself on the back Monday morning for calling the weekend attack in Manhattan a “bombing” before officials did.

“What I said was exactly correct,” Trump boasted in an interview on “Fox and Friends.” “I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news.”

At a rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday, Trump had informed the crowd that a bomb had just gone off in New York City, even though police had not yet said exactly what happened. The explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people, and a second explosive device was found nearby.

“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. We better get very tough, folks,” Trump told rallygoers.

Presidents ― and presidential candidates, for that matter ― generally don’t make pronouncements about emergencies until some of the facts have come in. Trump’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, also hastily referred to the incident as a “bombing” on Saturday, though she doesn’t appear to be taking credit now for her read on the situation.

“I’ve been briefed about the bombings in New York and New Jersey,” Clinton said in a back-and-forth with reporters on her plane Saturday, alluding to the pipe bomb-style device found on the Jersey Shore.

When she was asked about Trump’s comments at his Colorado rally, Clinton suggested he should have been more cautious. “I think it’s always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions,” the candidate said.

Trump told “Fox and Friends” that a double standard was at play. He pointed to the fact that CNN’s initial report on Clinton’s statements did not include her own reference to a “bombing.”

“They took it out,” Trump lamented of the media. “If that happened to me, do you think they would take it out? They don’t only take things out ― it feels like they add things. These people are the most dishonest people.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has taken credit for predicting or diagnosing such an attack. Shortly after the shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 dead, Trump infamously tweeted that he “appreciate[d] the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism.”

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularlyincitespolitical violence and is a

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