Rudy Giuliani Says He Didn't Forget 9/11, He Was Using 'Abbreviated Language' Because of Time

Rudy Giuliani said he did not forget about the 9/11 attacks during his speech at a Donald Trump rally on Monday, claiming that he was using "abbreviated language" when he referred to the lack of domestic terrorist attacks before President Obama took office in 2009.

"Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack inside the United States," Giuliani said in his remarks on Monday before Trump took the stage at the Youngstown, Ohio, rally. "They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office."

The former New York mayor on Tuesday, however, said that his comments were misunderstood because of a shortage of time.

"I'm not there to give a major 45-minute policy address," Giuliani told the New York Daily News. "You speak in somewhat abbreviated language. All human beings speak in abbreviated language at times."

He added: "When you're giving a speech, you only have five minutes, you can't give an encyclopedic explanation. Could I have repeated it at that point? In a way that you wouldn't be asking me this question today? Sure."

Giuliani's comments drew much attention because of his position as New York City's mayor at the time of the September 11 attacks. His post-mayoral career as a lawyer and consultant has relied on that period.

During the 2008 election cycle, then-senator Joe Biden delivered perhaps the most memorable moment of the race by hitting presidential candidate Giuliani on the frequency with which he used that experience during the terrorist attack.

"And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any of the people here. Rudy Giuliani... I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani," said Biden. "There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb and 9/11. There’s nothing else! There’s nothing else! And I mean this sincerely."

Giuliani's strange statement was roundly mocked. The New York Daily News wrote about Giuliani's comments under the headline, "Rudy Giuliani forgets about 9/11 and claims that ‘before Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack inside the U.S.'"

"You might want to get that bump on your head checked, Rudy," the Daily News story began, referring to a wound that appeared on Giuliani's head that he explained away as a result of a fall in his bathtub.

On Tuesday, however, Giuliani reiterated that he hadn't forgotten the attack.

"I didn't forget 9/11," said Giuliani. "I hardly would. I almost died in it."

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons