People can be forgiven if they don't know whether to believe Donald Trump's claim that he saw Muslims celebrating 9/11 in New Jersey.  But I, a New Yorker who was nearly killed in 9/11 and had that day burned into my memory,  saw it with my own eyes.  There was a video aired of the incident.  I remember seeing obviously Arab-looking individuals dancing and shouting for joy on rooftops.  There were less than thousands of them, but there were way more than a handful.

And it wasn't in the Gaza Strip.  I know Jersey City well enough to be able to tell the difference between the two (though increasingly there are similarities).  In the article I wrote yesterday, many of you wrote in the comments section that you saw the same news video.

Liberals are attempting to discredit Trump by parsing his words.  The key phrase is that Trump saw "thousands of Muslims celebrating."  Of course, the video didn't show thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11.  To do that, you'd need footage from the Goodyear Blimp floating over the stadium at the Meadowlands.  But there were significant numbers, dozens at least, who were celebrating.  But because the "thousands" part of Trump's claim cannot be substantiated, the media want you to think the whole thing never happened.

A Washington Post reporter was even interviewed about an article he wrote at the time describing police investigating reports of Muslims celebrating 9/11 in New Jersey.  The reporter, Serge Kovaleski, answered very carefully, telling CNN he had no memory of thousands, or even hundreds of people celebrating.  But nowhere is he asked if he saw dozens of people celebrating.  Because the media want you to think it never happened.

The Democratic mayor of Jersey City, Steven Fulop, also claimed it never happened.  I cannot believe that anyone in Jersey City can be unaware that it happened.  And, as I have said, and many people have responded, there was a video actually showing it.

This clearly looks like a cover-up, a mass denial from the establishment that a documented, filmed event happened.  The video exists somewhere and has been hidden or purged.  Many people who witnessed it are now denying it.  It is a real-life, large-scale conspiracy.  It's just like 1984, and it's frightening that liberals are trying to deny such a widely witnessed historical event.  It happened... and then it un-happened.

Both Politifact and The Washington Post's Fact Checker analyzed Trump's claim. Politifact rated it "pants on fire" and The Washington Post gave it "four Pinocchios."

They're lying.  How can it be otherwise, when they are disputing what I and others saw with our very own eyes?

And now they have even cowed Ben Carson.  After first saying that he, too, saw the videos of the Muslims celebrating in Jersey City, Carson's spokesman walked back the comments, saying he meant Muslims in the Middle East.

Trump initially did get backup from Carson, who told reporters gathered in Nevada that he did see celebrations of American Muslims in New Jersey after 9/11.

"I saw the film of it, yes," he said. Asked what kind of film, he said: "The news reels."

Carson's campaign walked that comment back later. "He does not believe Muslim Americans in New Jersey were celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers, rather he recalls the ample news footage of crowds in the Middle East celebrating the tragic events of 9/11," he said. 

I think Carson, who has been bold on many topics, has been cowed into silence on this one.

The usual suspects like Marco Rubio also claimed it didn't happen, though perhaps he didn't see the video.  But look at the normally direct Chris Christie's evasive response:

One of Trump's GOP primary opponents, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, was noncommittal on whether it happened, but said he didn't recall anything of the sort.

"I do not remember that, and so it's not something that was part of my recollection. I think if it had happened, I would remember it, but, you know, there could be things I forget, too," Christie told NJ.com.

He knows it happened, too.  He's just afraid to say it.

This is what we get from almost total liberal control of the media.  They don't just distort the present; they erase and change the past.  It really comes home to you when they deny the existence of an event you've personally witnessed.  I'm glad Donald Trump has the guts to speak out about this, but I am a little concerned that he is the only candidate who is.  And it raises another big question mark for Ben Carson.

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.