Trump responds after his elaborate 9/11 story about what happened to him slammed as blatant lie
President Donald Trump has hit back after claims he made about being carried away from Ground Zero by firefighters on September 11, 2001 were branded false by several news outlets.
The president made the remarks during a September 8 event on the White House Ellipse honouring 9/11 emergency responders, telling the crowd that nearby One Liberty Plaza, then know as the U.S. Steel Building, began to creak as though it might collapse when he was at the site.
According to Trump, two firefighters grabbed him and lifted him off the ground amid fears the building was coming down.
He said: '"We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys, I'm not the smallest guy in the world, they grabbed me under the arm, said, 'Got to get out of here,' and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do.
Advert
"I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, 'Fellas, I can run myself,' but they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn't come down."
The story quickly drew scrutiny, with critics, including New York Magazine, pointing out there was no evidence Trump was at the World Trade Center site on the day of the attacks.
Trump responded on Truth Social, insisting his accounts was accurate, though he clarified he wasn't there 'on the same day as the collapse' but 'shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction workers.'
He said in the post: "Everything I said was exactly accurate and, to prove the point, I am attaching clips of me there with numerous of my people, including my then Head of Security, Matthew Calamari, who has confirmed that very sad trip to Lower Manhattan, many times, to many different Journalists, but it’s a story that just won’t die.
"The Fake News doesn’t want to listen, even when they know their story is false. That’s why their approval ratings are at an All Time LOW, but mine are VERY HIGH!".
He also attached a video to the bottom of the post of him at the World Trade Center site, adding that 'he was there as soon as the law allowed'.
In the clip he's talking to a reporter, saying he has 100 men from his company coming to help out with the Ground Zero response, with 100 more on the way.
He also says he hopes we find out who's responsible for the attacks and 'attack them fast'.
Trump also suggests he would donate to the widows fund.
He went on to accuse journalist Maggie Haberman of lying about his attendance at 9/11 commemoration events, claiming she had wrongly suggested he skipped the New York ceremony because he wasn't permitted to speak there.
Trump said Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration in New York this year while he will attend a Pentagon event instead.
Was Trump actually at Ground Zero on 9/11?
The White House told CNN in a statement that Trump 'was a private citizen at the time' and 'not everything he did was documented.' Spokesperson Davis Ingle added that Trump had spent the morning honoring first responders and their families, and accused the media of using the moment to attack him unfairly.
Fact-checking organization PolitiFact has previously examined Trump's long-standing claims that he personally brought hundreds of construction workers to help with the recovery effort. The earliest known footage or photographs of Trump near Ground Zero date to September 13, 2001, two days after the attacks, when he gave interviews to press including German broadcaster N24, telling them he had over 100 workers at the site with more on the way.
Richard Alles, a former New York Fire Department battalion chief, told PolitiFact in 2019 he had no knowledge of Trump being at Ground Zero or bringing that many workers to help, noting that a formal record would exist given the coordination required with police and fire commanders at the time.
UNILAD has approached the White House for additional comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, News
Thomas Bamford