And there are more than enough kooks and frauds ready and willing to twist Trump’s words into a Gordian knot. It has been public knowledge for 10 or more years that there was chatter about an attack known to Fed agencies months before 9/11. They deemed it not actionable. Perhaps. That the admin was lackadaisical about it is not disputed.
To put up a minor defense for the pre-9/11 Bush Administration: Never in the history of this Nation has an incoming President been hampered by the opposing Party, and Media, to the point that it took quite some time for them to get their feet on the ground. Critical months were wasted. The coup that Gore, the Democrats, and the Media tried to pull off in Florida was nauseating, and borderline treason. This delayed the ability to bring the incoming Administration up to speed.
Of course, 'New Tone' George Bush didn't help matters out by not bringing these people to task (e.g., the outgoing Clintonites that trashed the White House computers should have been persecuted - not given a free pass under the claim that these were just 'pranks').
So sure, slow to come up to speed, but they were hampered by the in-house enemies in our Nation: the Dems and Media.