<!-- mobian-agent-page publisher="time" canonical="https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/" -->

---
---

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c3d041b2e3671a4/698868cb0b72e3c6b56e662d/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# Donald Trump Says He Could Have Prevented 9/11

<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8" -->
## Video: Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump

[Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8) (1:21)

![Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7MzTpVq2/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2015-07-23. Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes_


![Justin Worland](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce43820e61634237/698a0e76457a527422d63fe7/TIME-JustinWorland.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)


![Justin Worland](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce43820e61634237/698a0e76457a527422d63fe7/TIME-JustinWorland.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Justin Worland


Senior Correspondent

Oct 18, 2015 8:46 PM UTC

![Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, stands for a photograph after a Bloomberg Television interview at his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York, U.S., on Thursday, ](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c3d041b2e3671a4/698868cb0b72e3c6b56e662d/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

Donald Trump at his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York City on Oct. 15, 2015.

Donald Trump at his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York City on Oct. 15, 2015.John Taggart—Bloomberg/Getty Images

![Justin Worland](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce43820e61634237/698a0e76457a527422d63fe7/TIME-JustinWorland.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)


![Justin Worland](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce43820e61634237/698a0e76457a527422d63fe7/TIME-JustinWorland.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Justin Worland


Senior Correspondent

Oct 18, 2015 8:46 PM UTC

Billionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that his immigration policy could have prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The comment is the latest in an [ongoing spat](http://time.com/4077521/jeb-bush-donald-trump-foreign-policy/) between Trump and his GOP rival Jeb Bush over whether President George W. Bush kept the country safe.

“I’m extremely tough on people coming into this country,” Trump told Chris Wallace on [Fox News Sunday](http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2015/10/18/donald-trump-talks-taxes-trade-11-and-why-takes-personal-shots-at-political/).

“I believe that If I were running things, I doubt that those people would have been in the country,” he added, referring to those who carried out the attacks.

The conflict between the two candidates on this issue has been ongoing since the second GOP presidential debate when Jeb Bush praised his brother for his leadership following the 2001 terrorist attacks. Trump has since responded by denigrating that leadership, saying George W. Bush didn’t keep America safe.

“I’m not blaming anyone,” Trump told Wallace. “But the World Trade Center came down. So, when he said, ‘We were safe’—that’s not safe. We lost 3,000 people.”

Also on Sunday, Bush [took aim](http://time.com/4077521/jeb-bush-donald-trump-foreign-policy/) at Trump’s approach to foreign policy, saying the real estate developer talks about policy as if he’s on a reality show. “Across the spectrum of foreign policy, Mr. Trump talks about things as though he’s still on ‘The Apprentice,” he said.

Donald Trump Says He Could Have Prevented 9/11

```json
[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says He Could Have Prevented 9/11","datePublished":"2015-10-18T20:46:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:53:08.967Z","description":"The comment is the latest in a spat between Trump and Jeb Bush","url":"https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c3d041b2e3671a4/698868cb0b72e3c6b56e662d/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c3d041b2e3671a4/698868cb0b72e3c6b56e662d/donald-trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, stands for a photograph after a Bloomberg Television interview at his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York, U.S., on Thursday,","caption":"Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, stands for a photograph after a Bloomberg Television interview at his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York, U.S., on Thursday,","creditText":"John Taggart—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/","name":"Donald Trump Says He Could Have Prevented 9/11"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump","description":"Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7MzTpVq2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-23T21:38:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4077615/donald-trump-bush-september-11/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}]
```

