REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 20, 2017.
President Donald Trump predicted on Twitter Friday morning that the latest terror attack in Paris will have a "big effect" on the French presidential election this weekend."Another terrorist attack in Paris. The people of France will not take much more of this," Trump tweeted. "Will have a big effect on presidential election!"
One French police officer was killed and two others were injured during a shooting at the Champs-Elysees on Thursday night. The gunman - who was reportedly known to police in relation to Islamist terrorist activity - was killed on the scene.
A second suspect has handed himself into Belgian police, AFP reports.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack through Amaq, a news agency associated with the terror group. French President Francois Hollande said shortly after the attack that authorities were convinced it was "terrorist-related."
Trump had previously addressed the shooting during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday.
"First of all, our condolences from our country to the people of France," Trump said.
"Again, it's happening, it seems, I just saw this, I was walking in, so it's a terrible thing. It's a very, very terrible thing that's going on in the world today, but it looks like another terrorist attack and what can you say? It just never ends. We have to be strong and we have to be vigilant and I've been saying it for a long time."
The French presidential election is currently seen as a four-way race between Independent Emmanuel Macron, Conservative former prime minister Francois Fillon, National Front Party leader Marine Le Pen, and Socialist Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer noted on Twitter, "in France, as today's tweet makes clear, [Trump's] rooting for Le Pen."
Jake Kanter and Pamela Engel contributed to this report.