Trump accused Ilhan Omar of trivializing 9/11, but has made his own controversial comments about the terror attacks
- President Donald Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar for a controversial comment she made about the 9/11 terror attacks, but Trump has his own history of making controversial remarks about 9/11.
- On the day of the terror attacks in 2001, Trump mentioned on a local TV station that one of his buildings - 40 Wall Street - would become the tallest in downtown Manhattan, since the Twin Towers had fallen.
- On Friday, Trump tweeted out a video juxtaposing footage of Omar saying "some people did something" on 9/11 with video of the World Trade Center buildings collapsing.
President Donald Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar for a controversial comment she made appearing to trivialize the 9/11 terror attacks, but Trump has his own history of making what many believed were insensitive remarks about 9/11.
On the day of the terror attacks in 2001, Trump called into a local TV station to discuss the devastation in Lower Manhattan, where he owns property. But before discussing the tragedy, Trump mentioned that his building at 40 Wall Street would become the tallest building downtown, since the Twin Towers had been destroyed.
"40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually before the World Trade Center ... the tallest," Trump told New Jersey's WWOR. "And then when they built the World Trade Center, it actually became known as the second tallest, and now it's the tallest."
On Friday, Trump tweeted out a video juxtaposing footage of Omar saying "some people did something" on 9/11 with video of the World Trade Center buildings collapsing.
Omar's controversial remarks stem from a speech at the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Los Angeles last month, where she spoke about Islamophobia and the US government's restrictions on Muslim-Americans' civil liberties in the years following 9/11.
"Here's the truth. Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen," Omar said. "And frankly, I'm tired of it. And every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it."
Omar's critics took issue with her following statement that has since gone viral on social media: "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."
CAIR was founded in 1994, seven years before the 9/11 attacks. A spokesperson for the congresswoman told The Washington Post that Omar misspoke; CAIR doubled in size after the attacks.
Some Democrats, including Staten Island Rep. Max Rose, have taken issue with Omar's remark, calling it insensitive.
Read more: Trump shares video about Ilhan Omar's 9/11 comments as she faces death threats
Trump has made other controversial claims about 9/11. He has never retracted his thoroughly debunked claim that "thousands and thousands" of Arabs in New Jersey celebrated as the Twin Towers collapsed.
"I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down," Trump said at a campaign rally in Alabama in 2015. "And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering."
David Choi and John Haltiwanger contributed to this report.