On Tuesday’s “New Day” on CNN, Republican presidential front-runner defended his response aimed at his GOP opponent former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), who had claimed in a debate earlier this month that the country was kept safe under former President George W. Bush.

Trump in an interview with Bloomberg Television last week pointed out that the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks happened under the George W. Bush presidency, which he said refutes his younger brother’s claim the country was kept safe under George W. Bush’s watch.

Trump doubled down on that claim on CNN and claimed they knew the 9/11 attacks were coming and “didn’t really work on it.”

“[L]ook, his brother gets hit on, he’s a loyal person, and he’s loyal to his brother. But his brother made some mistakes. His brother could have made a mistake with the actual hit because they did know it was coming. And George Tenet, the head of the CIA told him that it was coming. So, they did have advanced notice and they didn’t really work on it. Now that’s something that could happen. I don’t blame him for that. Again, the question was — it wasn’t that I was blaming. They said that our country was safe under Bush. I said, well, what about the World Trade Center coming down in the worst attack in history? The statement was our country was safe under his brother.”

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