Posted on 02/14/2016 2:52:49 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Donald Trump sought Sunday to walk back his statements during Saturday night's Republican debate that former President George W. Bush bore responsibility for the Sept. 11 terror attack.
"I am not blaming him," Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
Trump continued to imply Bush erred, however. "The CIA said there was a lot of information that something like that was going to happen," he said. The attacks killed just under 3,000 Americans.
During Saturday night's debate, Trump told former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that."
"How did he keep us safe?" Trump said later. "I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe."
Trump holds a large lead in South Carolina. A CBS poll released Sunday put his support at 42 percent. That is more than double the 20 percent of the second-place candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., polled in third at 15 percent.
But in the wake of the debate, many pundits argued Trump risks losing support of pro-military conservative voters in South Carolina and other upcoming primary states, among whom George W. Bush remains popular.
For some GOP voters, Trump's faulting of Bush may have sounded too similar to Democratic denunciations of the former president, who faced criticism at the time for taking a lengthy vacation in the weeks prior to the attack, which occurred nine months into his presidency.
Hoping to capitalize on the those views, Rubio responded to Trump's claims Saturday by arguing former President Bill Clinton was at fault for the 9/11 attacks. Clinton failed to kill Osama bin Laden, Rubio said.
Trump on Sunday also seemed to walk back his claim that the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
"They lied," Trump said during the debate. "They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none."
On Sunday, Trump said George W. Bush "thought there were weapons of mass destruction, maybe, or maybe he didn't."
Trump insisted the invasion of Iraq was a "disaster" that continues to spread instability.
"We would have been so much better off if Bush and the rest of them went to the beach and didn't do anything," Trump said. "If you had Saddam Hussein, he was a bad guy and all of that, but he made a living off killing terrorists. Now if you want to become a terrorist you go to Iraq."
Trump spoke just hours after he fired off a series of post-midnight tweets arguing he fared well in the debate.
Saturday's debate "might have been my best performance," Trump said Sunday.
WTF! After that piece of DU regurgitation I am taking the rest of the night off so Jim doesn’t ban me.
It’s good to see this. It’s not good enough for me to forget that he said all that, but I’m a Trump supporter for a number of reasons, and those reasons still exist.
Have you heard of Ex-Lax? It might do you some good since you are so full of sh**? Trump said the very same thing in an earlier debate. However, I don’t expect you to acknowledge that since your job is to post hit pieces on him. Does it pay well, MRs. George Will?
“Keep it up!”
I hope Trump keeps it up too. The more he speaks the truth the greater his lead grows. Americans want a leader, not another big talk, do nothing politician.
There must be a thought in there somewhere
I can’t wait till he tells us that metal doesn’t bend when its hot
And that if you look close at the tapes you can see that the airplane wasn’t real
Which is the same as saying it's his fault. Which is what Trump is intending to say without actually saying it. He knows what he meant yesterday. Trying to walk it back today doesn't change it.
Clinton failed to kill Osama bin Laden, Rubio said.
I agree. But once Clinton was gone why didn’t Bush kill Bin Laden. (He said all along that it wasn’t important.)
Within hours of the 911 attack Colin Powell was talking about Al Queda and Bin Laden. They knew all about them but did nothing to stop them.
Has Trump forgotten that the entire Congress voted for the Iraq war? Enough GW Bush bashing from Republicans!
Very Sad indeed
Do you honestly think that someone would be able to fine tune an argument in that cage with all those feet flying around?
Oh my......: )
Another 815.
How much you get paid?
I hope you get paid.
No, it’s not the same. jeb Bush wants to tout the Bush brand’s foreign policy and national defense credibility. Trump is just saying “what foreign policy and national defense credibility”?
BUMP your post!
This is the crux!
It looks pretty obvious from where I’m sitting.
Exactly when did those towers come down ? Who was president? Who failed to recognize the wall between the various agencies who had knowledge and had to have a Huge investigation after the fact to find out what happened?
Bump
What democrat garbage is Trump gonna spout next? Valarie Plame?
This is what Trump always does: make some outlandish, ridiculous claim about someone, then gradually back off, re-stating it numerous times, eventually saying, “I don’t care about that any more. I want to focus on...”.
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