Jeb Bush hits back at Trump's 'pathetic' attempt to blame George W. Bush for 9/11
- Stunning accusation comes during Bloomberg Television interview
- Trump said New York's twin towers 'came down during his reign' as he tried to paint himself as 'much more competent' than other politicians
- Former president George W. Bush 'definitely not' planning to comment, his spokesman says
- Trump campaign has neither explained the unprovoked attack nor walked it back
- Jeb Bush, one of Trump's rivals, defended his older brother: 'How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe'
Donald Trump took an unprovoked slap at George W. Bush in an interview broadcast Friday, blaming the former U.S. president for not preventing the 9/11 terror attacks.
Asked by Bloomberg Television anchor Stephanie Ruhle how Americans might trust him to keep them safe, the Republican presidential front-runner bristled at the mention of Bush's role as comforter-in-chief after 9/11, and President Barack Obama's similar position following the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
'OK, I think I have a bigger heart than all of them,' he said. 'I think I'm much more competent than all of them.'
'When you talk about George Bush – I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time.'
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'I'M MUCH MORE COMPETENT': Trump said of President George W. Bush that 'Say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time'
COMFORTER-IN-CHIEF: Trump suggested he is smarter than the former president, pictured here on Sept, 14, 2001 in an inspiring moment atop the World Trade Center's rubble
PUSHBACK: Jeb Bush leapt to his older brother's defense after Trump blamed him for the 9/11 terror attacks
Ruhle jumped in, saying, 'Hold on! You can't blame George Bush for that.'
'He was president, OK?' Trump responded. 'Don't blame him, or don't blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.'
'If you look at Sandy Hook, those people are still begging for help. It's a disaster, and it's a disaster all over the place.'
'Government has proven to be a disaster during the Obama administration,' Trump pivoted. 'What we need is a leader, we don't have a leader.'
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of Trump's rivals for the GOP presdiential nomination, leapt to Twitter to defend his older brother.
'How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11,' Jeb wrote. 'We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.'
MSNBC host Chris Hayes, a liberal firebrand, responded on the social media platform: 'The first part of the second sentence is true.'
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MOURNER-IN-CHIEF: President Barack Obama wiped a tear while consoling the nation after a madman killed 20 schoolchildren in a December 2012 attack on a Connecticut elementary school
'SHE'S GOT A MANIAC ON THE OTHER SIDE': Trump said Bernie Sanders (left) is driving Hillary Clinton (right) more and more toward socialist economic positions that will create problems for her in the coming year
Ruhle's question didn't seem to invite an attack on either the current or former president.
'We haven't seen your soft hand. We've seen your offense,' she had told him. 'But George Bush had to stand in front of America after 9/11, Barack Obama did after Sandy Hook.'
'Help us understand who Donald Trump is as a man. I need to know that you will make us feel safe and you will make us feel proud.'
Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W. Bush, wasted no time in responding to a question about whether or not the former president would respond to The Donald's remarks.
'Thanks for checking, but definitely not,' Ford said Friday morning.
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Bloomberg interview also gave The Donald an opportunity to talk turkey about the Democratic presidential field.
He said front-runner Hillary Clinton's call for more tightly regulating banks – a double-down on the Dodd-Frank law – is the 'worst thing you can do. Dodd-Frank is a disaster.'
He said Clinton is being pushed politically to the far left as self-described 'Democratic socialist' Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders becomes more popular.
'She has got a problem. She’s got a maniac on the other side, OK?' Trump said.
BUSH'S FAULT? The former president will 'definitely not' be commenting on Trump's insult, hsi spokesman said Friday
DEADLY: 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers perished as a consequence of the Islamic terror attacks on New York CIty and the Pentagon
Sanders is 'a maniac. He’s a socialist/communist,' he continued. 'I said it yesterday in a speech. So call him what you like.'
'But here’s what happened to Hillary: This guy’s giving everything away. He wants Social Security for illegal immigrants, he wants education for illegal immigrants, he wants drivers licenses, he wants everything for people that aren’t even legal in the country.
'He wants things, you know, free education for everybody. Anybody who wants to go to school, you get free education. Now all of this stuff is going to cost trillions of dollars – trillions! They say 16, 17, 18 trillion dollars.
'Hillary is standing there listening to this and she’s just getting dragged so far over to the left. I watched it the other night. It was embarrassing. She was embarrassed!'
Trump also told Bloomberg that he would consider not placing any Day One calls to foreign leaders once he takes up residence in the Oval Office, opting instead to wait for them to call him.
'Stop,' Ruhle chided him, adding that the idea is 'something I'm afraid of.'
'I may. I may call them, may not call them, it depends,' Trump responded. 'I mean it's all a very deep psychological thing.'
For more of the latest news and updates on Donald Trump visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/trump
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