Tillerson heads to UK after Manchester attack
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit London on Friday to express condolences to the victims of the Manchester terrorist attack on behalf of the American people.
"The Secretary will reaffirm America's commitment to the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom and our solidarity in defeating terrorism in every part of the world," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert in a statement.
The attack, which came at the end of an Arianna Grande concert on Monday, killed at least 22 people and injured over 60.
President Trump reacted to the attack by condemning the terrorists during his first international trip, as part of his remarks with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
"I won't call them monsters, because they would like that term," said Mr. Trump. "They're losers. And we'll have more of them. But they're losers. Just remember that."
Tillerson, who was already planning to peel off from the rest of Mr. Trump's foreign trip on Friday, will land in a country on high alert. British Prime Minister Theresa May has directed the military and to work with the police to avoid another imminent attack. Deployments of security personnel were ramped up across the country.
Meanwhile, Britain has suspended intelligence sharing with the U.S. due to a series of leaks from American sources to the press in the wake of the Manchester attack. May and Mr. Trump are meeting in Brussels, at a NATO summit, on Thursday, where sharing intelligence in on the agenda.
"I will be making clear to President Trump today that intelligence that is shared between law enforcement agencies must remain secure," May said.
This unplanned visit will be Tillerson's first visit to the UK as Secretary of State. Tillerson and his British counterpart, Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, have met before, but this is also the first time they will take questions together from the press.
Their last joint appearance was set to happen in March when Johnson was in Washington for an anti-ISIS meeting at the State Department. At the last moment, however, they had to cancel the appearance, as reports broke of an man with a knife carried out attacks outside the UK Parliament.
That attack killed 5 people, including the attacker, and injured more than 40 others.
