CNN are reporting that the suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was spotted by a police officer while asleep in the vestibule of a bar in Linden, New Jersey. The officer recognised him from the alerts issued on Monday morning, leading to a shoot-out.
Shortly after word spread of the explosion in New York City, Donald Trump told a rally in Colorado that a bomb had gone off. "It's a terrible thing what's going on in our world, what's going on in our country, but we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant, and we are going to end it," he said.
Then an interesting thing happened.
For the next 24 hours, the Republican nominee – who is quick to share his opinion on pretty much everything – went quiet. Aside from a tweet offering condolences and best wishes to the “families and victims” of the bombing, Mr Trump was silent.
That was a marked contrast to Mr Trump’s reaction to the Orlando shooting in June and could reflect an acknowledgement on the part of the Republican’s campaign that discretion in the face of a national crisis is a wise strategy. After Orlando, Mr Trump sent out a tweet saying he appreciated the “congratulations” for “being right on radical Islamic terrorism”. He followed that up with a call for President Barack Obama to resign and a fiery speech blaming the shooting on US immigration policy.
There was some thought that a national security crisis might help Mr Trump in the general election, given that the Paris shootings in December boosted his Republican primary poll numbers. Surveys after Orlando, however, showed this was not the case. A Washington Post poll in late June gave Mrs Clinton a 50% to 39% edge in handling terrorism – an 8% improvement from May.
When asked which candidate reacted better to the shooting, 46% said Mrs Clinton, while only 28% opted for Mr Trump.
As the Post noted, it was one of the few times in the past 12 years where a Democrat scored better on “handling terrorism” than the Republican opponent.
Mr Trump has steadily chipped away at Mrs Clinton’s lead in the polls over the past few weeks after the Democrat surged ahead following the national conventions in late July.
The New York and New Jersey bombings represent a challenge for both candidates – and an opportunity to prove their mettle as commander-in-chief. If the Trump campaign has decided that a measured response is the best strategy, the real question will be whether the candidate can stick to it. On Sunday night, he was back on Twitter, launching a flurry of attacks against Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton.
On Monday morning he boasted during a telephone interview that he accurately described the explosions in New York City as a bombing before anyone else.“I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news,” Mr Trump said. “What I said was exactly correct.”
He also said his plan as president was to “knock the hell” out of the so-called Islamic State, stop being “gentle” and have law enforcement engage in profiling to prevent militant attacks.
Mr Trump has a rally scheduled this afternoon in Florida. Will the restrained Trump re-emerge - or was that a one-day phenomenon?
AFP/Getty Images
Associated Press is reporting that two police officers were shot during the operation to arrest Ahmad Khan Rahami in Linden, New Jersey - there's been no formal confirmation of any injuries so far.
The Minnesota attacker and New York bomb suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami were both naturalised US citizens - we'll take a look later about what's meant by that word 'naturalised'.
Ahmad Khan Rahami was born in Afghanistan before becoming a US citizen, while Dahir A Adan was of ethnic Somali origin, and was born in Kenya, before being granted US citizenship.
The fact both men were born outside the US has again brought the issue of immigration to the forefront of the election race.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Republican contender Donald Trump - who has made repeated calls for stronger vetting of immigrants to the US - said: "This is only going to get worse...you have to stop them coming into the country."
The news channel WABC in New York City has just broadcast images of the suspect, Ahmad Khan Ramani, in custody - he was shown conscious on a stretcher being led into an ambulance.
