Donald Trump again proves no falsehood is too great to achieve his goal, even those about 9/11.
On ABC News’ “This Week” Sunday morning, Donald Trump said he personally watched thousands of Arabs in New Jersey cheer as the Twin Towers fell to the ground during the horrific September 11, 2001 terror attacks on America.
“Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down,” Trump said in a clip of his speech from Saturday. “And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”
ABC host George Stephanopoulos challenged Trump, offering him the opportunity to walk back his claim, telling the GOP presidential frontrunner that the police refuted that claim long ago.Â
“It did happen,” Trump insisted, stating he saw it himself on television. “George, it did happen, on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations, they were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might not be politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down,” Trump said, insisting, “it was well covered at the time.”
UPDATE:Â Trump Earns ‘Pants On Fire’ Rating For Claiming ‘Thousands’ Of NJ Arabs Were ‘Cheering’ As WTC Fell
He repeated that “a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down.”
Here’s a portion of that interview:
Jersey City, NJ Mayor Steven Fulop told ABC News in response that Trump “has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party.”
“Trump is plain wrong, and he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue. No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th,” Fulop told ABC. “We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan. Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign.”
The Anti-Defamation League called Trump’s comments “irresponsible — not to mention factually challenged,” in a statement to Buzzfeed. “It is unfortunate that Donald Trump is giving new life to long-debunked conspiracy theories about 9/11,” the ADF added.
The full Trump interview is above.
UPDATE: 11.22.2015 3:07 PM EST –
The AP reports “Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he saw people cheering the Sept. 11 attacks across the river in New Jersey — but there’s no evidence that ever happened.”
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Image: Screenshot via ABC News