President Donald Trump took to Twitter Saturday evening to argue in favor of his proposed travel ban amid reports of a terror attack in London.
“We need to be smart, vigilant and tough,” Trump wrote in a tweet about two hours after police confirmed that they were dealing with incidents on the London Bridge and nearby Borough Market. “We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the travel ban as an extra level of safety.”
The Justice Department filed a petition Thursday asking the Supreme Court to reinstate the ban, which would limit travel from six Muslim-majority countries.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week voted 10-3 against restoring the ban, saying that the policy was “rooted in religious animus and intended to bar Muslims from this country.”
After reports first surfaced that police in London were responding to a vehicular attack on the London Bridge, the president retweeted a post from Drudge Report that claimed that a van “(mowed) down 20 people” on the bridge.
BBC News reported that about five people were struck Saturday night by a speeding van on the London Bridge. Police said they were called shortly afterward to reports of stabbings in nearby Borough Market.
Both incidents were determined to be terrorist incidents, police said.
The president later shared support for the people of the United Kingdom, writing on Twitter that, “Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U.K., we will be there.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
