Rudy Giuliani said Monday there were no “radical Islamic terrorist” attacks in the United States in the eight years before President Barack Obama took office.
“Under those eight years before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States,” he said at a speech in Ohio. “They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.”
Giuliani’s statement leaves out the largest terror attacks in America’s history, for which he was mayor of New York City.
But the gaffe may just be a miscalculation of years. Giuliani spoke of the attack on Sept. 11, 2001 just before that statement, telling the crowd that America didn’t want the war on terror.
“We didn’t start this war. They did,” he said, referring to terrorists. “We don’t want this war. They do. And they didn’t start it even in 2001. They attacked the World Trade Center in 1993.”
A spokesman for Giuliani told the AP that he was referring to the years between 9/11 and Obama’s first term when he said there were no attacks.
The former mayor, who is campaigning for Donald Trump and Mike Pence, also appeared to forget what state he was speaking in. As he was speaking about Pence, he told the crowd, “you know better than I do what a great governor he is of your state, what he’s done for your state, how he’s improved it and helped it and left it in tremendous condition.”
He quickly realized he was in Ohio and laughing at his mistake, he said Indiana was his next stop.
