Donald Trump says his tough immigration stance might have prevented 9/11 - 'I doubt that those people would have been in the country'
- Donald Trump has been warring with rival Jeb Bush in recent days over comments he made about Bush's brother George W. Bush and 9/11
- Trump pointed out that 'the World Trade Center came down during his time'
- The billionaire said he's not blaming George W. Bush for 9/11, but says he disputes Jeb Bush saying his brother kept the country safe
- Trump said Sunday that his 'extremely, extremely tough' position on immigration might have kept the 9/11 terrorists out of the country
Donald Trump suggested on Fox News Sunday that his tough stance on immigration might have prevented the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
'I doubt that those people would have been in the country,' Trump told Fox's Chris Wallace.
Trump has taken heat in recent days for comments he made on Bloomberg Television about the degree of responsibility former President George W. Bush had for 9/11, saying 'the World Trade Center came down during his time.'
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Donald Trump suggested on Fox News Sunday that his tough stance on illegal immigration might have kept the 9/11 terrorists out of the country
'I'M MUCH MORE COMPETENT': Trump said of President George W. Bush that 'Say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time'
COMFORTER-IN-CHIEF: Trump suggested he is smarter than the former president, pictured here on Sept, 14, 2001 in an inspiring moment atop the World Trade Center's rubble
GOP rival Jeb Bush jumped in to defend his brother and released a web ad this weekend, questioning Trump's fitness to be commander in chief of the nation's military.
Bush doubled down on that stance on an appearance this morning on CNN's State of the Union.
'I have grave doubts, to be honest with you,' the former Florida governor said, when host Jake Tapper asked Bush if he'd trust Trump with the nuclear codes.
'It looks as though he doesn't - he's not taking the responsibility, the possibility of being president of the United States really seriously,' Bush said. 'For him, it looks as though it's - he's an actor playing a role of the candidate for president.'
Bush also said Trump treats foreign policy like he's still on The Apprentice.
On Sunday, Trump stuck to his guns as well.
'Look, look, Jeb said we were safe with my brother. We were safe,' Trump began. 'Well, the World Trade Center just fell down! Now, am I trying to blame him? I'm not blaming anybody. But the World Trade Center came down. So when he said, we were safe, that's not safe. We lost 3,000 people,' Trump said.
'It was one of the greatest - probably the greatest catastrophe ever in this country if you think about it, right?' Trump continued.
Host Chris Wallace then asked Trump what he would have done.
'Well I would have been much different,' Trump said. 'I am extremely, extremely tough on illegal immigration. I'm extremely tough on people coming into this country.'
'I believe that if I were running things, I doubt those families would have - I doubt that those people would have been in the country . So there's a good chance that those people would not have been in our country,' Trump said.
The 9/11 hijackers came into the country on legal business, tourist and one student visa.
PUSHBACK: Jeb Bush leapt to his older brother's defense after Trump blamed him for the 9/11 terror attacks
Trump again said he wasn't 'blaming' George W. Bush for 9/11.
'But I don't want Jeb Bush to say, "my brother kept us safe," because Sept. 11 was one of the worst days in the history of this country,' Trump said.
When Trump made his original comments, Ruhle jumped in, saying, 'Hold on! You can't blame George Bush for that.'
'He was president, OK?' Trump responded. 'Don't blame him, or don't blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.'
'If you look at Sandy Hook, those people are still begging for help. It's a disaster, and it's a disaster all over the place.'
'Government has proven to be a disaster during the Obama administration,' Trump pivoted. 'What we need is a leader, we don't have a leader.'
Jeb Bush used Twitter to defend his brother.
'How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11,' Jeb wrote. 'We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.'
Ruhle's question didn't seem to invite an attack on either the current or former president.
'We haven't seen your soft hand. We've seen your offense,' she had told him. 'But George Bush had to stand in front of America after 9/11, Barack Obama did after Sandy Hook.'
'Help us understand who Donald Trump is as a man. I need to know that you will make us feel safe and you will make us feel proud.'
DEADLY: 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers perished as a consequence of the Islamic terror attacks on New York CIty and the Pentagon
'SHE'S GOT A MANIAC ON THE OTHER SIDE': Trump said Bernie Sanders (left) is driving Hillary Clinton (right) more and more toward socialist economic positions that will create problems for her in the coming year
Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W. Bush, wasted no time in responding to a question about whether or not the former president would respond to The Donald's remarks.
'Thanks for checking, but definitely not,' Ford said Friday morning.
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Bloomberg interview also gave The Donald an opportunity to talk turkey about the Democratic presidential field.
He said front-runner Hillary Clinton's call for more tightly regulating banks – a double-down on the Dodd-Frank law – is the 'worst thing you can do. Dodd-Frank is a disaster.'
He said Clinton is being pushed politically to the far left as self-described 'Democratic socialist' Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders becomes more popular.
'She has got a problem. She’s got a maniac on the other side, OK?' Trump said.
'But here’s what happened to Hillary: This guy’s giving everything away. He wants Social Security for illegal immigrants, he wants education for illegal immigrants, he wants drivers licenses, he wants everything for people that aren’t even legal in the country.
'He wants things, you know, free education for everybody. Anybody who wants to go to school, you get free education. Now all of this stuff is going to cost trillions of dollars – trillions! They say 16, 17, 18 trillion dollars.
'Hillary is standing there listening to this and she’s just getting dragged so far over to the left. I watched it the other night. It was embarrassing. She was embarrassed!'
Trump also told Bloomberg that he would consider not placing any Day One calls to foreign leaders once he takes up residence in the Oval Office, opting instead to wait for them to call him.
'Stop,' Ruhle chided him, adding that the idea is 'something I'm afraid of.'
'I may. I may call them, may not call them, it depends,' Trump responded. 'I mean it's all a very deep psychological thing.'
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