CNN tweeted a story Tuesday questioning President Donald Trump for "seiz[ing] on what he calls a 'terrorist attack' in London," even though the incident was already being treated by authorities as a terrorist attack.
The quotation marks around "terrorist attack" and the tweet's charge that "the incident is still in the early stages of investigation" strongly implied Trump was getting ahead of the facts in his tweet, but London authorities were already treating the incident as terrorism. The CNN story the tweet links to even admitted as much.
"President Donald Trump seizes on what he calls a 'terrorist attack' in London, even though the incident is still in the early stages of investigation," the tweet said at 9:31 a.m.
President Donald Trump seizes on what he calls a "terrorist attack" in London, even though the incident is still in the early stages of investigation https://t.co/z2qEYHryeF pic.twitter.com/AatPX4wZsh
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 14, 2018
Hours before, CNN reported the attack was being treated as terrorism. Its report came in addition to similar stories from outlets in the U.K., such as the BBC, reporting the same thing several hours before.
#Westminster car crash is being treated as terror attack, London police sayhttps://t.co/CprbiGZgrg
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 14, 2018
This reporting came directly from police statements, which American outlets soon reported as well.
"Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident," Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism chief, told reporters Tuesday outside Scotland Yard.
More than two hours after the reports, Trump tweeted his disgust with the attack.
"Another terrorist attack in London...These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!" Trump tweeted at 7:42 a.m.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1029332350969237504
Despite the extensive reporting and a statement from the mayor of London, CNN still questioned Trump's framing in its tweet a couple hours later. The article's headline now reads, "Trump tweets on London 'terrorist attack' as investigation gets underway."