Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests during a rally at Des Moines Area Community College Newton Campus on November 19, 2015 in Newton, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is under fire after comments he made about 9/11 and New Jersey on Saturday.

Trump was talking about his Muslim database plan while at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama when he made this comment:

“I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down, and I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering,” Trump said. “So something’s going on, we gotta find out what it is, I do want surveillance.”

He repeated that assertion on Sunday morning, claiming that he’d seen the scenes on television.



Footage of Muslims in Middle Eastern countries cheering news of the attacks were broadcast on television.

But there is no evidence of mass celebrations by Muslims in Jersey City, which sits right across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop says Trump is “plain wrong” and is politicizing an emotionally charged issue.

“No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th,” Fulop said in a statement. “Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign.”



Dozens commented on Fulop’s Facebook page, including several who insist they did see Muslims celebrating in small numbers in Jersey City on 9/11, 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck reported.

In the wake of the terror attacks on Paris, Trump has introduced a plan to require all Muslims in the United States to register in a national database. The plan has been sharply criticized and condemned by other GOP candidates, as well as Democratic party nominees.

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