Rudy Giuliani Says There Were No Successful Terror Attacks On U.S. Soil ‘Before Obama Came Along’

Rudy Giuliani said the following in a speech he made to introduce Mike Pence on Monday.

“By the way, under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.”

No, really. I’m not making it up. Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York City when the 9/11 attacks happened, said that there were no successful radical Islamic terror attacks on U.S. soil until Clinton and Obama got into office. Check it out yourself. He says it at about 9:17 or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD2CC3rcTbw

Just to be perfectly clear, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center happened, Mr. Giuliani, in 2001. Barack Obama wasn’t sworn in until 2009. George Bush was president, sir.

In all seriousness, as the New York Daily News noted, Rudy Giuliani suffered some sort of head injury earlier this month. He has had quite a knot on his forehead because of it. Maybe it’s something more serious than anyone thought.

Just before Rudy Giuliani made this comment, he was right on the nose with what he was saying.

“During the time of September 11, when we went through the worst foreign attack in our history, since the War of 1812… his very, very timely visit which I remember, to Ground Zero when we were in desperate need of help, he was there. And from his time on the Judiciary Committee and helping to fashion the Patriot Act.”

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Then it all fell apart. Not only did Rudy Giuliani make the gaffe about the timing of the 9/11 attacks, but he then followed that by saying the following.

“… and you know better than I do, what a great governor he is of your state. What he’s done for your state, how he’s improved it and helped it and left it in tremendous condition.”

Oh, Rudy. Stop talking. Just stop talking. You’re in Ohio. Mike Pence is governor of Indiana.

Giuliani realized this, or someone corrected him, pretty quickly and said, “What he’s done for the state of Indiana. Excuse me. We’re going there next.” Then Rudy looked down and said, “Youngstown, Ohio. I love Youngstown, Ohio.”

People can probably overlook Rudy Giuliani getting mixed up about where he was. Donald Trump’s campaign is making a lot of stops right now, so it isn’t too hard to see how he could get confused about that. Giuliani’s mistake about 9/11 – his rewriting of that monumental event in the history of the world and the U.S. that killed almost 3,000 people and injured 6,000 more, the one that happened in the city where he was mayor at the time – many have and will find that major misstep by Rudy Giuliani very offensive.

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Giuliani’s spokesman, Jake Menges, told The Associated Press that “Giuliani was referring to a lack of major attacks during the remainder of Bush’s term.” Well, that could possibly explain his “eight years” remark if we stretch it a little, but Rudy also said, “They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.” MSNBC reminds us that this actually is not the first time he has made such a statement. Back in January of 2010, Rudy Giuliani appeared on Good Morning America and said the following.

“What [President Obama] should be doing is following the right things that [George W. Bush] did – one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama.”

The “one” Rudy is referring to was committed by Umar Abdulmutallab. You may remember him better as “The Underwear Bomber.” He tried but failed to detonate a bomb he had hidden in his underwear on a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. There were no casualties.

[Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Images]