Jersey City Mayor And Other Politicians Fire Back At Trump’s 9/11 Comments
The Jersey City mayor took a stand after Donald Trump’s 9/11 comments, claiming that thousands of New Jersey Muslims cheered when the World Trade Centers were struck more than 14 years ago.
This stems from some rather offensive comments Trump made at a Birmingham, Alabama, rally while expressing his desire for greater surveillance around mosques and Muslim activity following the recent ISIS attacks on Paris. He stated as follows.
The same claim was repeated during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” with host George Stephanopoulos. The host reminded Trump that police officials denied these rumors, but Trump stood by what he originally said at the rally.“Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. 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.”
“It did happen. I saw it. It was on television. I saw it. There were people that were cheering 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 be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down, as those buildings came down. And that tells you something.”
The Jersey City mayor came to the defense of his city and the Arab population there, criticizing Trump for his comments.
“Trump is plain wrong,” Mayor Steven Fulop responded in a statement. “And he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue. No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th. We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan.”
In an attempt to salvage the good name of Jersey City and to shut down the criticizing remarks from Trump, Fulop also posted on Twitter, saying, “Either @realDonaldTrump has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party.”
Either @realDonaldTrump has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) November 22, 2015
A Twitter follower tweeted soon after that “Donald Trump doesn’t have memory issues. He is a bigot and a racist.”
@StevenFulop Donald Trump doesn't have memory issues. He is a bigot and a racist.
— Maxim Matusevich (@matusema) November 22, 2015
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, GOP presidential hopeful, also told reporters from NJ.com that he has no recollection of cheering on 9/11 anywhere in New Jersey. “I do not remember that, and so it’s not something that was part of my recollection,” he said. “I think if it had happened, I would remember it, but, you know, there could be things I forget, too.”
Those in New Jersey weren’t the only ones to respond to the controversial comments meant to get a rise out of the crowd in Alabama. George E. Pataki, the governor of New York at the time of the attacks, also tweeted his derision for Trump’s comments.
The Washington Post spent quite some time researching this issue in order to determine the truth. They reached out to the police commissioner, Jerry Speziale, of Paterson, which hosts the second-largest Muslim population in the United States. Speziale stated that Trump’s 9/11 comments were “totally false. That is patently false. That never happened. There were no flags burning, no one was dancing. That is [barnyard epithet].”Not sure what luxury spider-hole @realDonaldTrump was hiding in on Sept11 but I saw Americans come together that day @GStephanopoulos
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) November 22, 2015
In fact, Speziale explained that law enforcement’s main concern for the Jersey City area was protecting Muslims from retaliation. They worked with the community, which united to ensure that didn’t happen.
Trump’s 9/11 comments are likely just another one of his techniques to aggravate the Democratic party and bring more attention to his campaign.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]