Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has said there were “pockets” of people celebrating when the World Trade Center towers fell on September 11, 2001.
Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor at the time, disputed claims by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that thousands of people were involved.
Donald Trump’s comments have been refuted by local political leaders because of a lack of evidence.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie simply said “it didn’t happen”.
Rudy Giuliani, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2008 Republican nomination himself, said: “We did have some [reports of] celebrations, there were pockets of celebration, some in Queens, some in Brooklyn.”
The former mayor said in one specific report which was later proved to be true, owners of a sweet shop were celebrating and children from a nearby housing development “beat them up”.
However, Rudy Giuliani said Donald Trump was willfully exaggerating the numbers and he himself “would’ve been thrown out of the race” had he made such an inflated claim during his 2008 campaign.
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik later backed up Rudy Giuliani’s comments, saying “10-50” people were reported to be celebrating in different areas throughout the city.
Donald Trump, who comes from New York and runs his billionaire property empire from the city, has come under constant attack for days, ever since he made his controversial 9/11 remarks at a rally in Alabama.
The mayor of Jersey City, which Donald Trump named, said no such thing happened and accused the Republican of “shameful politicizing”.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, his Republican rival in the race for the White House, said it was not true.
“It didn’t happen and the fact is, people can say anything, but the facts are the facts, and that didn’t happen in New Jersey that day and hasn’t happened since.”
Donald Trump leads the Republican race to be presidential nominee, two months before voting begins in the primary contests.
The Republican presidential hopeful has also urged increased surveillance of Muslims in the US, in light of the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people.
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