- Aug 4, 2009
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To justify killing the families of terrorists, Trump came up with this lie
Fact check: The Detroit Republican debate
Trump repeated a bogus claim that the wife of a 9/11 terrorist left the U.S. two days prior to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and that she “knew exactly what was happening.”
Trump: "The wife knew exactly what was happening.
"They left two days early, with respect to the World Trade Center, and they went back to where they went, and they watched their husband on television flying into the World Trade Center, flying into the Pentagon …"
Trump’s awkward reference to “they” and “their husband” must have left the audience confused about whether he was talking about one wife or several. In fact, when he first made the claim on CBS’ “Face the Nation” last Dec. 6, he said the 9/11 conspirators “put their families on airplanes a couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia, for the most part.”
That claim rated a four-Pinocchio rating from our friend Glenn Kessler, who writes TheWashington Post’s Fact Checker column. Kessler, citing the report of the 9/11 Commission and an interview with its former executive director, Philip D. Zelikow, noted that all or nearly all of the 9/11 hijackers were unmarried. Furthermore, Zelikow stated that “none of them brought female companions to the United States.”
Fact check: The Detroit Republican debate
Trump repeated a bogus claim that the wife of a 9/11 terrorist left the U.S. two days prior to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and that she “knew exactly what was happening.”
Trump: "The wife knew exactly what was happening.
"They left two days early, with respect to the World Trade Center, and they went back to where they went, and they watched their husband on television flying into the World Trade Center, flying into the Pentagon …"
Trump’s awkward reference to “they” and “their husband” must have left the audience confused about whether he was talking about one wife or several. In fact, when he first made the claim on CBS’ “Face the Nation” last Dec. 6, he said the 9/11 conspirators “put their families on airplanes a couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia, for the most part.”
That claim rated a four-Pinocchio rating from our friend Glenn Kessler, who writes TheWashington Post’s Fact Checker column. Kessler, citing the report of the 9/11 Commission and an interview with its former executive director, Philip D. Zelikow, noted that all or nearly all of the 9/11 hijackers were unmarried. Furthermore, Zelikow stated that “none of them brought female companions to the United States.”
