Despite a lack of evidence, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday kept pushing the claim that he saw cheering from Muslims in New Jersey on September 11, 2001.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, the Republican frontrunner said, “I saw it. So many people saw it … So, why would I take it back? I’m not going to take it back.”
Asked where he witnessed this, Trump replied, “I saw it on television. I saw clips. And so did many other people. And many people saw it in person. I’ve had hundreds of phone calls to the Trump Organization saying, ‘We saw it. It was dancing in the streets.’”
Trump said there were reports of Muslims celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers “all around the world. That has been reported very strongly.” On New Jersey, he continued, “Why wouldn’t it have taken place? I’ve had hundreds of people call in and tweet in on Twitter, saying they saw it and I was 100% right.”
While citing the Washington Post for his assertion there were “tailgate parties” following 9/11, Trump conceded, “We’re looking for other articles. And we’re looking for other clips. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we found them…but for some reason, they’re not that easy to come by.”
On the issue of allowing Syrian refugees into the United States, Trump declared it “has the potential to be one big fat Trojan horse.”
Repeatedly, the businessman has alleged there are plans to allow 200,000 Syrian refugees into the country, while the Administration says that number is actually only 10,000 for next year.
Responding to that statistic, Trump said, “I have it, upon a certain amount of knowledge — I’m very friendly with a lot of people on both sides — that Obama’s plan is 200,000-250,000.”
He continued, “I think what he really has in mind is 200,000 people and maybe even more than that coming into our country. And we can’t have it. We don’t know who these people are. They’re undocumented totally.”
In fact, Syrian refugees are referred to the Department of Homeland Security after first being screened by the United Nations. According to the White House, of over 23,000 Syrian refugees referred by the U.N., about 7,000 were interviewed by DHS, and a little over 2,000 have been accepted into the United States.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
