Donald Trump Accused Of Lying About 9/11 To Justify Holding Campaign Rally After Synagogue Shooting
Liberal leaning online news website Slate accused President Donald Trump of lying to justify holding a rally hours after a gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh Synagogue, killing 11 people Saturday morning.
Robert Bowers, 46, has been accused of firing upon worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, injuring six others along with the 11 deaths, CNN reported. He reportedly expressed hatred for Jews on social media outlets along with alleged statements to police when he was captured.
Hours later, Trump held a rally in Murphysboro, Illinois, that followed a stop in Indianapolis for an agriculture convention, CNN stated.
In deciding to go through with the rally, Trump reportedly gave an example of how the New York Stock Exchange opened the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“With what happened early today, that horrible, horrible attack in Pittsburgh, I was saying maybe I should cancel both this and that,” T41% rump said at the rally, according to video posted on Twitter by CNN political commentator Keith Boykin.
“And then I said to myself, I remembered Dick Russell, a friend of mine, great guy, he headed up the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 11th, and the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day. He said — and what they had to do to open it you wouldn’t believe, we won’t even talk to you about it. But he got that exchange open. We can’t make these sick, demented, evil people important,” he continued.
After 11 people were killed in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Trump says he had to hold a campaign rally tonight because of 9/11.
He claims the New York Stock Exchange opened the day after September 11 attacks.
It did not.
The NYSE was closed from September 11-September 17. pic.twitter.com/fDHErFgWwb
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 27, 2018
Bloomberg News, though, reported that the New York Stock Exchange, along with the Nasdaq exchanges, were closed the rest of the week after 9/11 and reopened Sept. 17, the longest shutdown of the exchanges since 1933.
Slate bristled at the Trump’s mistaken statement.
“Everyone knows President Donald Trump has a complicated relationship with the truth,” the website wrote. “But he flat out lied Saturday evening to justify moving forward with a campaign rally mere hours after 11 people were shot to death in a Pittsburgh synagogue. It isn’t just dates that Trump got wrong in his little tale, but also names. While the president referenced ‘Dick Russell, a friend of mine,’ the head of the NYSE at the time was actually named Dick Grasso. Dick Russell was a senator from Georgia who defended segregation,” Slate continued.
In the meantime, Allegheny County chief medical examiner Karl William released the names of the 11 people killed in Saturday’s shooting.
They included, according to CNN:
*Joyce Fienberg, 75, Oakland neighborhood, Pittsburgh
*Richard Gottfried, 65, Ross Township
*Rose Mallinger, 97, Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Pittsburgh
*Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, Edgewood Borough
*Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54, brothers, Squirrel Hill
*Bernice and Sylvan Simon, 84 and 86, married, Wilkinsburg
*Daniel Stein, 71, Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh
*Melvin Wax, 88, Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh
*Irving Younger, 69, Mount Washington neighborhood, Pittsburgh
