Trump claimed at an Alabama rally that he watched thousands cheer on 9/11, ostensibly Muslims.

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 as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.

He later doubled down on his claim when questioned about its validity, citing a 2001 Washington Post story by Serge Kovaleski.

In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.

Serge Kovaleski retorted that his writing of the alleged “number of people” was not the hundreds and thousands Trump claimed, nor would it be possible for Trump to have personally witnessed as much.

At a subsequent rally, Trump launched into an attack on Kovaleski, mocking him so as to seemingly imitate Kovaleski’s disability.

Now, the poor guy, you’ve got to see this guy: “Uhh, I don’t know what I said. Uhh, I don’t remember,” he’s going like “I don’t remember. Maybe that’s what I said.”

Trump repeated the claim about mass celebrations in New Jersey several times, including during an interview with Alex Jones. He also famously bragged about his building being the tallest on 9/11, though his claim was untrue.

The Washington Post – Trump’s outrageous claim that ‘thousands’ of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks
The Guardian – Donald Trump: I was ‘100% right’ about Muslims cheering 9/11 attacks
Politifact – Fact-checking Trump’s claim that thousands in New Jersey cheered when World Trade Center tumbled