Yes, he tried to turn it into something else. An old liberal trick: If you can’t make any headway, change the subject.
I wonder what the name of that debate trick is.
The point is he did not apologize for what HE said. When he spoke about New York values in the debate, he explained what those values are - he said, gay marriage, abortion, fracking, etc. It was Trump who tried to change it to 9/11.