Resurfaced footage shows Donald Trump seemingly bragging - incorrectly - that his building had 'regained' the title of the tallest in lower Manhattan, but only after two planes crashed into the Twin Towers.
The former president was interviewed in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on 11 September, 2001, when thousands of people lost their lives and the entire world was rocked by the events.
As firefighters risked their lives to respond to the scene and families sat waiting to hear news of their loved ones, Trump was speaking to WWOR about the height of the buildings in New York.
“Well, it was an amazing phone call,” he told the news outlet. “I mean, [the Trump Building] 40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually – before the World Trade Center – was the tallest. And then when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest, and now it’s the tallest.”
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Not only was this piece of information entirely irrelevant given the horror of the situation, but it was also entirely incorrect.
Fact checks revealed there had been a period when Trump's tower was the tallest building in lower Manhattan, but it wasn't immediately before the construction of the World Trade Center in the 1970s. It was actually for about two years in the 1930s, long before Trump owned it and even before the would-be president was born in 1946.
Other, taller buildings had popped up in Manhattan since then, so it didn't regain its title after the attack in 2001.
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Trump has been called out for his incorrect brag for years, with one person sharing the footage on the anniversary of the attacks on Sunday and writing: "20 years ago, as the smoke was rising from lower Manhattan, Donald Trump went on TV to brag (incorrectly) that his building was now the tallest in New York. This is who he is."
Another critical Twitter user wrote: "Today marks the 21 year anniversary of Sir Donald Trump boasting on tape that he now has the tallest building in lower Manhattan."
Later in the interview, Trump complained about the closure of the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of the attacks, saying: "I was so disappointed when they closed the stock exchange, but of course, at some point, you have no choice.
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"You want to just say, ‘The hell with it, you’re going forward, nothing’s gonna change.’ But the fact is, something has changed very dramatically.”
Almost 3,000 people lost their lives in the attacks, alongside over 6,000 being gravely injured.
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Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Viral
Emily Brown