Reuters/Mike Segar
"I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York. And nobody knows exactly what's going on," Trump told the crowd at a Colorado Springs rally.
"We better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough," he added.
The explosion has been described as an "intentional act" by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, though he said there's currently no indication of a terror connection.
Police Commissioner James O'Neill said "the exact nature and cause of this explosion has yet to be determined."
Clinton, too, called the incident as a "bombing" when she spoke to media on her campaign jet:
"I've been briefed about the bombings in New York and New Jersey," she said, referring to both the Manhattan blast and the pipe bomb that detonated in a Jersey Shore town before a Marine charity run.
HRC refers to "bombings in New York," then is asked if Trump jumped the gun when he immediately called it a "bomb" pic.twitter.com/MBaMvRMJUr
- Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) September 18, 2016
But when a reporter asked for her reaction on Trump citing a bomb as the cause of the explosion, Clinton replied that "it's important to know the facts about any incident like this."
"I think it's always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions," she added.