One thing anyone following the 2016 election cycle knows about GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is that he has no problem speaking the truth. In other words, he’s just not politically correct, which has often caught him a lot of flak from those on both the left and right.
His recent comments about Muslims cheering when the Twin Towers went down on 9/11 is no different.
Speaking at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, Trump said, “And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands of people were cheering as the building was coming down.”
The Anti-Defamation League said Trump’s account was “factually challenged” and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he had no recollection of that happening.
But Trump insisted he was right, defending his comments on an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos Sunday, and again on Twitter, where he posted a WaPo article from Sept. 18, 2001 titled, “Northern New Jersey Draws Probers’ Eyes,” which read:
“In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.”
Trump then went so far as to tell an NBC News reporter that he has “the world’s greatest memory” and is demanding an apology from those who doubt his recollection of the attacks.
However, the article Trump pointed to as support of his claim only says “a number of people”—not thousands.
The author of the Post article told CNN that he doesn’t remember “anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating.”
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