Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: Donald Trump makes false 9/11 claim to justify campaign rally
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Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: Donald Trump makes false 9/11 claim to justify campaign rally
Eleanor Busby, The Independent 21 hours ago Donald Trump has falsely claimed that the New York Stock Exchange reopened the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to justify going ahead with a campaign rally just hours after 11 people were shot dead in a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The US president said he had contemplated cancelling the political event but said that the head of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had opened up the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks.
But the NYSE and the Nasdaq exchange were in fact closed until September 17 following the attacks which brought down the World Trade Centre – the longest shutdown since 1933, Bloomberg reported .
Speaking at a campaign rally in Illinois, Mr Trump also recalled that “Dick Russell” was head of the New York Stock Exchange at the time – but Dick Grasso was chief executive of the NYSE in 2001.
The comments about 9/11 were used to bolster Mr Trump’s argument for continuing with the scheduled rallies for the midterm elections despite the mass shooting in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Authorities have released the names of the 11 people – eight men and three women ranging in age from 54 to 97 – who were killed in the gun attack.
Officials said they believe the suspected shooter, Robert Bowers, who has been indicted with dozens of charges including 11 counts of murder, was working alone, when he allegedly entered the Tree of Life synagogue on Saturday morning, armed with three hand guns and a semi-automatic rifle.
Speaking at the rally later on Saturday, Mr Trump said: “With what happened earlier today, with that horrible, horrible attack in Pittsburgh, I was saying maybe I should cancel both this and that.
“And then I said to myself, I remembered Dick Russell, a friend of mine, great guy, he headed up the New York Stock Exchange on September 11th, and the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day.
“He said – and what they had to do to open it you wouldn’t believe, we won’t even talk to you about it. But he got that exchange open.
“We can’t make these sick, demented, evil people important.”
Earlier on Saturday, during a convention in Indianapolis, Mr Trump said: “We have our lives. We have our schedules. And nobody’s going to change it.
"So we’re here. And let’s have a good time.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press
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The rallies are completely stupid to begin with. What independent is picking Trump because of a Trump rally? If they attend one of his hate fests, their loyalty to that dipshit was never in question. Trump holds rallies to stroke his own ego, nothing more.
The same one that's picking Maxine Waters because of one of her rallies.
They aren’t even remotely similar. Trump is in a league of his own ... kind of like Adolf Hitler was.
They are identical. People who go to rallies have already made up their mind.
Comparisons of Trump and Hitler are a new and special kind of hyper-emotional stupidity. They reflect abject ignorance of both 1930s Germany and present day America.
Good to see that not even one public official chose to meet with Trump in Pittsburgh. They all shunned him, including the family he tried to foist himself on.
Truly shameful that he imposed himself there and still hasn't apologized for his vile anti-refugee rhetoric which fueled the terrorist attack.
Trump makes false claim?
Holy crackers.