“It was on television. I saw it,” Trump said.
That story of cheering Muslims has often been tied to an incident in Paterson, not Jersey City, and local officials have repeatedly denied the incident happened. There is no news coverage of the incident and no evidence corroborating it otherwise.
The Anti-Defamation League called Trump’s claims “irresponsible.” Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Trump “has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party.” Paterson Police Commissioner Jerry Speziale said Trump’s claims were “totally false.”
“That is patently false. That never happened. There were no flags burning, no one was dancing,” Speziale told The Washington Post.
At the same Birmingham rally, Trump continued to call for the surveillance of Muslims at “certain mosques.” A black protester, Mercutio Southall, was alsoallegedly assaulted by several Trump supporters.
Southall reportedly shouted “black lives matter” and “dump Trump” in an attempt to disrupt Trump’s speech. He said he was pushed down, punched and kicked.
No arrests were made after the incident and Southall did not require medical attention. Southall said he felt he was being “swarmed” as he faced a “lynch mob.”
When the subject was brought up during an interview on Fox News Channel on Sunday, Trump said Southall possibly had it coming.
“Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing,” Trump told Fox News. “I have a lot of fans, and they were not happy about it. And this was a very obnoxious guy who was a troublemaker who was looking to make trouble.”
An image titled “USA CRIME STATISTICS ~ 2015” offered some numbers attributed to the Crime Statistics Bureau in San Francisco — a bureau that has yet to be located. The image shows a black male holding a pistol sideways while wearing military combat boots, camouflage pants and a bandana and mask.
The image Trump posted said 97 percent of black people were killed by other black people. This statistic is close to official U.S. Department of Justice statistics, which reported 93 percent of black homicides were committed by other blacks between 1980 and 2008. In 2014, about 90 percent of black homicides were committed by blacks.
The most seemingly erroneous statistic, when compared to the Justice Department, is the white-on-white homicide.
The image Trump posted said 16 percent of whites were killed by other whites, but the Justice Department reports 84 percent of whites were killed by other whites from 1980 to 2008. In 2014, 82 percent of whites were killed by other whites.
