Rep. Peter King came to the defense of former President George W. Bush Wednesday when it comes to the 9/11 attacks, calling GOP presidential candidate "wrong and misleading" when he seeks to lay blame on the ex-leader for the incidents.
"President Bush had absolutely no responsibility for what happened on Sept. 11," the New York Republican told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" host Martha MacCallum. "He was meeting with the CIA constantly asking for briefings, and he was told there was no evidence of any threat against the United States."
It had been known for years that the potential was there for al-Qaida to launch an attack on the United States, King conceded, but "on Aug. 6, less than a month before, President Bush was given a top briefing by the CIA and said there were no threats to the United States. Any al-Qaida operatives in the country were being monitored by the FBI."
He further commented that in his memoirs, former CIA Director George Tenet had said there was no evidence of an attack.
"[Saying] President Bush was responsible for 9/11 is the same as saying Franklin Roosevelt was responsible for Pearl Harbor," King told MacCallum.
Moreover, he said he agrees with GOP candidate Jeb Bush that his brother set up the "counterterrorism infrastructure that prevented a major attack against the U.S."
But meanwhile, Trump is "echoing what people like [filmmaker] Michael Moore and all the liberal Democrats supporting him say," said King. "Donald Trump, liberal Democrats and Michael Moore against President Bush. I will stand with President Bush."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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