Trump says he's heard the Beirut explosion may have been an accident and that it may not have been

President Trump during a Wednesday White House press conference said that he has heard that the fatal Tuesday explosion in Beirut, Lebanon may or may not have been an accident.

"I've heard it both ways too. I've heard accident, I've heard, you know, explosives and obviously it must've been some form of explosives," the president said when asked about Defense Secretary Mark Esper's remarks indicating that it was likely an accident. "But whether it was a bomb intentionally set off, it ended up being a bomb. But no, I've heard it both ways. It could've been an accident and it also could've also been something that was very offensive and I wouldn't be very happy with that." 

Esper discussed the incident earlier today.

"Yeah, still getting information on what happened," Esper said while speaking for the Aspen Security Conference on Wednesday. He said "most believe" that the incident "was an accident as reported."   

During a press conference on Tuesday the president said that the explosion appeared to be an attack, based on what he had heard from some generals.

"Are you confident that this was an attack and not an accident?" a reporter asked the president on Tuesday.

"Well 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 said on Tuesday. "This was a, seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack, it was a bomb of some kind," the president explained.