Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Monday that he had seen news footage of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11 attacks, mirroring the controversial remarks made by Donald Trump over the weekend.
It didn't take long until his campaign walked that back.
The controversy began over the weekend when Trump said he had seen news video of "thousands" of Muslims in the U.S. celebrating the 9/11 attacks. Such footage has never been found, and previous claims of celebrations by Muslims as the towers fell have either been debunked or uncorroborated. Trump has said he had seen footage of "thousands" of Muslims in the U.S. cheering in the aftermath of the attacks.
The top two candidates for the Republican nomination have now both claimed to have seen this news broadcast.
WATCH: @RealBenCarson tells ABC he saw news footage of Muslims in New Jersey cheering as towers fell on 9/11: https://t.co/DJCSJdZxXS— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 23, 2015
Carson seemed hesitant to volunteer much information about the viewing, but continues to answer yes as reporters clarify the question.
Carson originally answers only "yes" to the reporter's question about whether he saw or heard that Muslims in the U.S. had been celebrating the terror attacks of 9/11.
When pressed to expand Carson spoke about people "responding inappropriately" to events. The reporter then asks if he saw it happening and Carson responded "I saw the film of it, yes." Another reporter asks, "In New Jersey?" Carson responded yes again.
The original reporter follows up with yet another question to make sure it is clear what she's asking. Carson clarified that it was "the news reels."
Carson did seem confused and his camp later clarified that he was thinking of the Middle East. News footage of that is easily found online.
Carson camp says he doesn't stand behind comments & apologizes.Was thinking of Middle East, not New Jersey,camp says https://t.co/JVHh7VAYvt— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) November 23, 2015