Rudy Giuliani Claims There Were No 'Successful Radical Islamic' Terror Attacks in US Before Obama
The former NYC mayor excluded the attacks of Sept. 11.
— -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani today blamed President Barack Obama for allowing acts of terrorism to occur under his watch, claiming that “successful” attacks did not happen until Obama took office.
“Before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack inside the United States,” Giuliani said at an event for Donald Trump in Ohio.
Giuliani was the mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, including 9/11, when the World Trade Center’s twin towers were destroyed and almost 3,000 people were killed after members of al-Qaeda hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the buildings.
Just seconds before that comment, Giuliani referred to the attacks twice while touting Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s foreign affairs experience and recalling a trip Pence made to lower Manhattan as a congressman in the aftermath of the attack.
“[Pence was] a member of the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committee during the time of Sept. 11, when we went through the worst foreign attack in our history since the War of 1812,” Giuliani said.
“Mike Pence understands [the threat of terrorism] from his time both on the Foreign Affairs Committee, from his very, very timely visit, which I remember, to ground zero. When we were in desperate need of help, he was there,” Giuliani added.
The comment — and the immediate scrutiny it received on social media — drew comparisons to claims by Jeb Bush during his presidential campaign that his brother George W. Bush “kept us safe” while he was president.
During a February debate after repetition of the statement, Trump was quick to remind Jeb Bush about the timing of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign — remember that,” Trump said.
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