America just said it watched the men accused of plotting to bomb its UK base

Five men have just been arrested near RAF Fairford. That's the US Air Force base in Gloucestershire.

Here's how it started. A member of the public called police at around 12.45am, about 15 hours ago. She saw three vans blocking a road near the base, and a group of men in balaclavas standing nearby.

Police stopped the vans. Five men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act. Then they were arrested again, this time on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.

A 400-metre cordon went up around the vans. The Army's bomb disposal unit came in to check them. Around 85 households nearby were evacuated as a precaution. And RAF Fairford has been raised to FPCON Delta. That's the highest threat level a base can be placed on.

So what does Donald Trump say about it?

He told reporters a few hours ago that the suspects wanted to do serious damage to the base. He says quote "big damage to our fort".

And here's the bigger claim. He says America had been watching these men before any of this happened. He says quote "we had them under view for a long time".

That's the US president saying American intelligence already knew who these men were.

But British police haven't said that. A separate report, from one outlet only and not confirmed anywhere else, says these arrests were not believed to be part of a pre-planned operation. In other words, police were not tracking this plot in advance.

So you've got two accounts that don't match. Neither the Metropolitan Police nor Gloucestershire Police has said whether American intelligence flagged these men before the arrests. Neither has said anything at all about US involvement.

Trump also wasn't sure which British agency ran the case. He said it may have been Scotland Yard, but that he didn't know, since America works with a lot of British agencies.