Donald Trump may have implied this week that he at least partly blames former president and fellow Republican Party member George W. Bush for the 9/11 attacks.

While commenting on the overall subject of national emergencies and insisting that he would be a better commander-in-chief than both rival candidates and earlier presidents, Bloomberg News reports Trump added, "I think I'm much more competent than all of them. I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time."

He later added of Bush, "He was president, OK? Blame him, or don't blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign."

With that, rival GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush immediately took to Twitter to defend his older brother and blast the current 2016 Republican front-runner.

"How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11," Jeb Bush tweeted. "We were attacked & my brother kept us safe."

Republican representative Peter King of New York also rushed to the defense of the former two-term president, telling Fox Radio, "I think Donald Trump is totally wrong there. That sounds like a Michael Moore talking point. Anyone who has a real knowledge of that, you can get all the CIA people, no one saw that the attack of 9/11 coming."

Late Friday, Trump himself took to Twitter to defend his comments and respond to all the mounting criticism from within his own party. "At the debate you said your brother kept us safe--- I wanted to be nice & did not mention the WTC came down during his watch, 9/11," he posted.

Late in the week, Trump also found himself at odds with CNBC officials scheduled to host the next Republican debate. On Friday, network officials gave in to his demand that the debate be limited to just two hours.