(CNN) Deep in an interview late last week with Bloomberg, President Donald Trump said something truly startling about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A Bloomberg reporter asked Trump about the upcoming midterm elections and how Republicans would do. Here's the last paragraph of Trump's answer:

"The advantage we have is -- I am actually a very popular president, which people don't like to say, you know. In fact, I guess the Republican poll came out, there's one at 92 and one at 93 and one at 90, and they're the highest numbers that have ever been, with the exception of a tiny period of time with a bullhorn.

"But that period lasted for about a week."

What Trump is referring to is what is broadly seen as the iconic moment of George W. Bush's presidency.

It is September 14, 2001. Bush stands atop a pile of rubble on the site of the World Trade Center with his arm around a firefighter. Bush starts speaking with the aid of a bullhorn. Some of the assembled firefighters and emergency personnel yell that they can't hear him. He responds with this: "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." (You can watch the video here .)

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