Donald Trump responded to Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]’s criticism of his “New York” values citing New York City’s response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Thursday during the Fox Business Republican debate, Cruz said, “Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I’m just saying.”

Trump responded, “So conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley [founder of the National Review] and others, just so you understand.”

Cruz “insulted a lot of people,” Trump said. “I’ve had more calls on that statement that Ted made. New York is a great place, it’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York.”

“[T]wo one hundred and ten story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the clean up started the next day and it was the most horrific cleanup in the history of doing this and in construction,” Trump said.

“I was down there. And I’ve never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought and we saw more death and even the smell of death, nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you that was a really insulting statement that Ted made.”

Cruz did not offer a response to Trump.

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