Justifying his decision to attend a political rally and address the Future Farmers of America convention on Saturday — both just hours after a gunman opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 — President Donald Trump lied about the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
“I remember when we had the attack in Manhattan, we opened the stock exchange the next day,” Trump told FFA. “People were shocked.”
He added Saturday night, at the political rally: “With what happened early today, that horrible, horrible attack in Pittsburgh, I was saying maybe I should cancel both this and that. And then I said to myself, I remembered Dick Russell, a friend of mine, great guy, he headed up the New York Stock Exchange on September 11th, and the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day. He said — and what they had to do to open it you wouldn’t believe, we won’t even talk to you about it. But he got that exchange open. We can’t make these sick, demented, evil people important.”
As the Washington Post’s Fact Checker pointed out Saturday night: “This will be a very short fact check.”
In fact, the New York Stock Exchange was closed for several days after Sept. 11. It opened on Sept. 17.
H/t Newsweek.
