Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Wednesday that "most believe" the explosions that devastated Beirut in Lebanon on Tuesday were an accident -- contradicting President Donald Trump's earlier reports that top military leadership believed the explosions were an attack.
Trump said Tuesday that U.S. military generals have told him they “seem to feel” the massive explosion was a “terrible attack” likely caused by a bomb.
Trump says generals feel Beirut blast was likely an 'attack'
"It would seem like it based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked why he believed the explosions were an attack despite contradictory reports from Lebanese leadership. "This was not a — some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of an event. They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."
In the virtual Aspen Security Forum conference on Wednesday, Esper said otherwise.
While still "getting information on what happened," Esper said, "most believe it was an accident as reported." He declined to provide further information.
This marks one of several occasions in recent months when Esper directly contradicted Trump's messaging on certain issues. In June, Esper worked to separate himself from the president's photo in front of the church in Lafayette Square. He also contradicted Trump's assessment that active-duty troops were needed to quell protests in response to the killing of George Floyd across the nation. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Trump had to be convinced not to remove Esper from the position of Secretary of Defense after this series of events.
During a Thursday press briefing at the Pentagon, spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said "both (Esper and Trump) have been consistent that we have reached no definitive cause" of the explosion. Beyond this, the Pentagon offered no further information and said they would allow Lebanon the opportunity to thoroughly investigate the incident.
Esper said Wednesday the Department of Defense is ready to offer "whatever assistance we can, humanitarian aid, medical supplies, you name it, to assist the people of Lebanon." On Thursday, the first of three C-17s loaded with relief supplies departed from Qatar en route to Beirut.
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