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Perhaps, but the claim was that he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating in Jersey City.

Exaggeration or no celebrations at all? Did you read the article I linked to you? Do hundreds of witnesses constitute a fabrication? There were contemporaneous articles in the MSM (including the WP) mentioning the celebrations on the rooftops comparing them to tailgate parties. Is the number the issue or the fact that the celebrations took place?

How many people do you think have to be in on the conspiracy to "scrub" all clips from the various TV station archives, YouTube, etc? I'd say it has to be well into the thousands, all rallied and coordinated within a day after Trump made the claim.

There were news reports at the time mentioning the celebrations. There were clips showing the celebrations overseas. There may be some in the US that have yet to be unearthed. No doubt, the MSM would like to keep them quiet the same way the LA Times never released the video it had of Obama cavorting with a radical Palestinian professor.

Occam's Razor suggests that when numerous people, using their first and last names in a public forum, and providing concrete details that can be checked, all provide similar accounts of public behavior, chances are they are telling the truth. It is possible that all of these people, as Kim LaCapria suggests, are suffering from false memory syndrome, or are all attempting to whip up murderous hatred against Muslims, as Benjamin Wittes accuses, but neither LaCapria nor Wittes provides any support for their smears.

Cui bono directs us to consider "who benefits" from a statement. New Jersey has one of the largest Muslim populations in the US, after Michigan. New Jersey's Muslim population constitutes the second highest, by percent, in the US, after Illinois and above Michigan. New Jersey Muslims wield political clout. Note Republican Governor Chris Christie's nomination of Sohail Mohammed for the New Jersey Superior Court in spite of intense pressure, and Christie's dismissal as "crap" any concerns that New Jerseyans might have about sharia law. Note also that a New Jersey judge ruled that a Muslim man had the basis to beat, torture, and rape his 17-year-old wife because he believed that Islam granted him this right. Muslim political clout may explain why so many empowered voices insist that the 9-11 celebrations never happened. Too, no decent New Jerseyan wanted to see retaliatory attacks against Muslims in our state. Many speculate, and some report as fact, that police, journalists and local officials downplayed or denied Muslim celebrations to protect Muslims from retaliatory attacks. In contrast, those who insist that they witnessed Muslim celebrations have nothing to gain by making these statements publicly, and everything to lose. First, many of those speaking out now have no public record of making these statements previous to this controversy. They saw what they saw and they kept it to themselves, or told only those closest to them, for the past fourteen years. It is only the attempt to expunge this historical fact from public memory, and to smear and disgrace anyone who speaks this truth, that caused witnesses to come forward. They are average New Jerseyans simply telling the truth in the face of a wave of censorship and demonization that could cost them their friends or their jobs.

Are accounts of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9-11 consistent with other verified data? Indeed they are.

Palestinians make up a large percentage of Paterson's Muslim population, so much so that the neighborhood where the 9-11 celebration is alleged to have taken place is sometimes nicknamed "Little Ramallah." Local businesses are often named for Palestinian landmarks, for example the Al-Quds restaurant, Al-Quds Halal meat and the Al-Quds bakery. Paterson has a large Hispanic population; there are businesses with the provocative and irredentist name of El Andalus Discount Store and Andalus Islamic Fashion. Paterson Palestinians are not shy about expressing their opposition to Israel, see here. Indeed, Paterson's City Hall famously flew the Palestinian flag. One Paterson resident, Moneer Simreen, is quoted referring to Palestine, not the US, as "our country." Americans, Tariq Elsamma said, "need to obey our needs because we are a large community." Paterson's mayor, Jose Torres, wore a kaffiyeh and supported making Ramallah Paterson's sister city.

Even those who deny that any American Muslims celebrated 9-11 acknowledge that Palestinians overseas did celebrate the attacks. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are familially related to Palestinians in Paterson.

Further, polling data indicate that there is not inconsiderable support for terror among some Muslims, with support varying by group. In a 2005 FAFO Foundation poll, a significant percentage of Palestinian respondents supported "Al Qaeda's actions like bombings in USA and Europe." A 2013 Pew Poll found that 40% of Palestinians support suicide bombing in defense of Islam. In the same poll, only one percent of Muslims in Azerbaijan voiced support for suicide bombing.

Finally, we know that six of the 9-11 hijackers lived in Paterson, NJ, and they used the computers of a nearby campus in planning their attacks.

Did you read the article I linked to you? Do hundreds of witnesses constitute a fabrication?

From the link in your article where they reviewed Facebook posts the radio station had solicited :

"A close examination of the comments finds very few people describing events they say they witnessed firsthand - well under 1 percent. None describe celebrations in the thousands. Some attribute celebrations to other cities, most commonly Paterson, home to one of the larges Muslim populations in the United States. (Note: Paterson's police director has told New Jersey 101.5 police have no records of any such celebrations being reported to them, and vehemently denies any celebrations took place)."

None of them support Trump's claim of thousands in Jersey City.

I have no trouble believing there were some people celebrating in New Jersey and I know there was TV coverage of Muslims celebrating in the Middle East. I don't believe that Trump saw thousands celebrating in Jersey City, either in person or on TV.

I honestly don't think Trump's mis-speaking, either from faulty memory or exaggeration, matters much one way or the other. What I find fascinating is the contortions Trump and his supporters put themselves through trying to deny the obvious.