Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this weekend said he observed "thousands and thousands" of Arab Americans in New Jersey "cheering as the World Trade Center came down" on 9/11.

“Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down," Trump told a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday evening. "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.”



Speaking by phone with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week program on Sunday morning, Trump doubled down on the comments:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, the police say that didn't happen and all those rumors have been on the internet for some time. So did you...misspeak yesterday? TRUMP: It did happen. I saw it. STEPHANOPOULOS: You saw that?

TRUMP: It was on television. I saw it. STEPHANOPOULOS: With your own eyes?

TRUMP: George, it did happen. STEPHANOPOULOS: Police say it didn't happen.

TRUMP: There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down — as those buildings came down, and that tells you something. It was well covered at the time, George. Now, I know they don't like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.

Footage was screened of some Muslims cheering in the Middle East on September 11, 2001, but internet rumors about Muslims in New Jersey cheering as the Twin Towers fell were debunked by local police at the time, according to the New York Times and ABC News.



Hope Hicks, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, did not immediately return a request for more information on the source for the candidate's claims.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter that Trump's claims were "absurd."