I could have prevented 9/11: Donald Trump

The billionaire presidential candidate says he could have made use of his immigration policy to prevent the attacks

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he could have prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks had his immigration policy been in place.

The comment is the latest in an ongoing online spat between Trump and his Republican Party rival Jeb Bush relating to the question, ‘Did President George W Bush keep the country safe.’

“I’m extremely tough on people coming into this country,” Trump said while talking to Chris Wallace on Fox News.

Jeb is fighting to defend a catastrophic event. I am fighting to make sure it doesn't happen again.Jeb is too soft-we need tougher & sharper

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2015

Trump criticizes George W Bush over 9/11, Jeb Bush hits back

“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 spat first began when Jeb Bush, in the second GOP presidential debate, commended his brother’s leadership in the aftermath of 2001 terrorist attack.

How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 16, 2015

Trump has since been downplaying the leadership, asserting Bush did not keep America safe.

Trump says he would send Syrian refugees back if elected

“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.”

In the same debate, Bush castigated Trump’s approach on foreign policy, calling him a real estate developer who talked about policy as he were on a reality show.

“Across the spectrum of foreign policy, Trump talks about things as though he’s still on ‘The Apprentice,” he remarked.

The article first appeared on Time.com