Trump consistently maintains an untruthful claim that no terror attacks occurred during his presidency.
He occasionally voiced his disapproval of such incidents in intense detail. In his 2018 State of the Union address, he referred to "two acts of terrorism in New York" that had recently taken place. He paid a visit to Pittsburgh and El Paso following these acts of terrorism. He invited survivors of a California incident to the White House.
However, these days, he insists he never oversaw any terror attacks at all.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has falsely declared that no terror attacks occurred during his tenure. He delivered a more roundabout version of this notion in his campaign launch speech in 2022, made his claim unequivocal by 2023, repeated it at the CNN presidential debate in June, and asserted it yet again at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Monday.
"We experienced no terror attacks during my administration," he declared at the rally in Pennsylvania.
Fact Check: Trump's claim is false. There were numerous terror attacks during his presidency, including high-profile attacks in his hometown of New York City. Terror attacks under Trump resulted in the deaths of many people.
An Islamic extremist slaughtered eight individuals in an October 2017 terrorist attack in New York City, an act carried out in support of the terror organization ISIS. Trump repeatedly spoke about this attack while in office, labeling the perpetrator as a "monster" and expressing sorrow for the injured survivors.
In December 2017, another ISIS sympathizer detonated a bomb in the New York City subway system, injuring a number of people. Trump issued a statement condemning this attack, noting that it was the "second act of terror in New York in the past two months."
Trump's Department of Justice concluded that a 2019 attack by an extremist from Saudi Arabia's military, which resulted in the deaths of three US servicemembers and injuries to others at a military base in Florida, was motivated by jihadist ideology and was carried out by a longtime "associate" of al Qaeda. Trump commented on this attack the day it took place.
Additional terror attacks during Trump's presidency
There were numerous other terrorist attacks under Trump's watch. Here are some examples:
In 2018, a white supremacist carried out the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US history, killing 11 people and injuring six others in a shooting attack at a synagogue in Pittsburgh; Trump visited the synagogue after the incident. A 2019 terror attack on a California synagogue by another white supremacist resulted in one death and three injuries; Trump publicly addressed this attack and then honored the survivors at the White House.
A white supremacist admitted guilt to first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism, along with other charges, for killing a Black man in New York City in 2017 with the intention of inciting a race war. The perpetrator himself referred to the murder as a "terrorist attack."
Also in 2017, an anti-Republican extremist attacked Republican lawmakers and others who were practicing for the annual charity congressional baseball game, shooting then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others. The chief state prosecutor for the area referred to this attack as "an act of terrorism."
Trump's Department of Justice referred to a white supremacist's 2019 shooting massacre at a Walmart in Texas, which resulted in the deaths of 23 people and injuries to 22 more, as "an act of domestic terrorism." The shooter was targeting Latinos.
And Trump's Department of Justice referred to it as a "domestic terrorist attack" when one of Trump's supporters mailed improvised explosive devices to CNN, prominent Democratic officials and others in 2018.
Despite Trump's repeated claims, his assertion that no terror attacks occurred during his presidency is factually incorrect. His tenure saw numerous terrorist incidents, including the deadly attack by a white supremacist on a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, where he visited the affected community afterwards.
