Mayor Steven Fulop is going after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for “shamefully politicizing the 9/11 attacks” since the billionaire said thousands of people in Jersey City cheered the collapse of the World Trade Towers.Â
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
In a New York Times article published yesterday where Trump calls for the surveillance of “certain mosques,” as well as a Syrian refugee database, the presidential hopeful heavily implied that the Muslim population in Jersey City applauded the 9/11 attacks as they occurred.
“Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering. So something’s going on. We’ve got to find out what it is,” he is quoted as saying.
A spokeswoman for Trump did not provide the New York Times any clarity on what exactly Trump was referring to and no media accounts document any such occurrence as happening September 11, 2011.
Late this morning, Fulop, a long-rumored 2017 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, took exception to Trump’s remarks and wanted to set the record straight via his Facebook page.
“Regarding Donald Trump’s comments on 9/11 and Jersey City. To start, obviously, Trump is plain wrong and he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue. No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th. We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan,” he wrote.
“Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign which is really the foundation of his candidacy.”
This isn’t the first time a top Hudson County official has gone after Trump in the midst of his controversial campaign.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), a former Union City mayor who still has strong ties to the Hudson County Democratic Organization, torched Trump over his immigration/deportation plan at his 6th annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in September.
Coincidentally, back in May 2014, long before anyone could’ve ever predicted Trump would actually run for president, Fulop is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying “I think the Trump brand is a real positive thing for any urban area.”
The quote was in reference to Trump and his son-in-law, Jarrett Kushner, being involved in the development of Trump Bay Street, a 447-rental apartment next to Trump Plaza Residences at 88 Morgan Street.