US President Donald Trump claimed during a 25th anniversary commemoration of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that two firefighters physically carried him away from a dangerously unstable building near Ground Zero, an anecdote that fact-checkers and media reports directly contradict.
Trump’s September 11 Anecdote and the Firefighter Claim
Speaking near the White House ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Donald Trump told attendees that two large firefighters lifted him under the arms and ran with him from the One Liberty Plaza skyscraper in Manhattan. According to Trump’s remarks, the building was situated directly across from the World Trade Center and threatened to collapse during his visit with staff. “They hoben mich hoch und rannten mit mir los,” Trump said, describing how the crew intervened because they thought the structure would fall.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale wrote on X that while structural concerns regarding One Liberty Plaza did exist in the days following the attack, New York City authorities repeatedly stated the building was stable. Dale noted that no public evidence places Trump at the building amid those collapse fears, and zero documentation supports the claim that firefighters carried him away.
Shifting Timelines and Archival Contradictions
Donald Trump has offered varying versions of his post-9/11 activities over the years. According to Daniel Dale’s analysis, Trump claimed during the 2016 presidential campaign that the alleged firefighter rescue at One Liberty Plaza happened “a few days” after the attacks rather than on the day itself.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/2097340291409965396
Did you know? Media reporting from September 11, 2001, places Trump miles away from the Twin Towers, giving a phone interview to a local television station from Midtown Manhattan while the dust still hung over the city.
Witnesses who worked at Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath stated they never saw Trump or a team of his employees assisting with cleanup operations. Photographs and videos from the days following the disaster show Trump visiting the general vicinity wearing a pristine suit, but he was never documented on the actual site of the former Twin Towers, as reported by the New York Times.
Historical Context of the 2001 Attacks
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, involved Al-Qaeda operatives hijacking commercial airliners and flying them into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon near Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania. Both Twin Towers ultimately collapsed, resulting in 2,977 deaths and shaping global security policy for decades.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Donald Trump help with cleanup efforts at Ground Zero?
According to individuals who were present at Ground Zero, neither Trump nor any organized crew of his employees were seen participating in the recovery efforts.
Where was Donald Trump on September 11, 2001?
Media archives and broadcast interviews confirm that Trump watched the events unfold on television from miles away in Manhattan and spoke to a local TV station about his own properties on Wall Street that morning.
What evidence supports the claim about firefighters carrying Trump?
According to CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, there are no public records, photographs, or witness statements to support Trump’s claim that firefighters carried him away from One Liberty Plaza.
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