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Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: Donald Trump makes false 9/11 claim to justify campaign rally

'We can’t make these sick, demented, evil people important'

Eleanor Busby
Sunday 28 October 2018 16:18 EDT
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Donald Trump inaccurately claims New York Stock Exchange was open the day after 9/11

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Donald Trump has falsely claimed that the New York Stock Exchange reopened the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to justify going ahead with a campaign rally just hours after 11 people were shot dead in a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The US president said he had contemplated cancelling the political event but said that the head of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had opened up the day after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

But the NYSE and the Nasdaq exchange were in fact closed until September 17 following the attacks which brought down the World Trade Centre – the longest shutdown since 1933, Bloomberg reported.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Illinois, Mr Trump also recalled that “Dick Russell” was head of the New York Stock Exchange at the time – but Dick Grasso was chief executive of the NYSE in 2001.

The comments about 9/11 were used to bolster Mr Trump’s argument for continuing with the scheduled rallies for the midterm elections despite the mass shooting in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Authorities have released the names of the 11 people – eight men and three women ranging in age from 54 to 97 – who were killed in the gun attack.

Officials said they believe the suspected shooter, Robert Bowers, who has been indicted with dozens of charges including 11 counts of murder, was working alone, when he allegedly entered the Tree of Life synagogue on Saturday morning, armed with three hand guns and a semi-automatic rifle.

Speaking at the rally later on Saturday, Mr Trump said: “With what happened earlier today, with 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.”

Earlier on Saturday, during a convention in Indianapolis, Mr Trump said: “We have our lives. We have our schedules. And nobody’s going to change it.

"So we’re here. And let’s have a good time.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press

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