President Donald Trump claimed at a White House 9/11 tribute on Tuesday that firefighters carried him from Ground Zero hours after the attacks on September 11, 2001—a statement that contradicts his own account from that day and lacks corroboration from first responders who were present.
Speaking at a Steel Across America event on the Ellipse, Trump recounted a dramatic rescue near One Liberty Plaza, formerly the U.S. Steel Building. “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,” Trump said. “They lifted me up and they started running with me.”
The claim marks the latest version of Trump’s evolving account of his 9/11 involvement. Hours after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Trump called into local television station WWOR-TV and described watching an explosion from his Trump Tower window, located more than four miles from the Twin Towers. He mentioned his building, 40 Wall Street, was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan following the collapse.
The earliest documented evidence of Trump near Ground Zero dates to September 13, 2001, when he gave interviews to German television and spoke with press. He stated at the time that he had brought over 100 workers to the site and had “about 125 coming,” though he provided no specifics about the scope or duration of their work.
Fact-checkers have found no evidence supporting Trump’s long-standing claims that he brought hundreds of workers to aid in recovery efforts. Richard Alles, a New York Fire Department battalion chief at the time, told PolitiFact in 2019 that he had “no knowledge” of Trump being at Ground Zero or bringing 100 or more workers. “There would be a record of it,” Alles said. “Everybody worked under direct supervision of the police and fire department and the joint commander for emergency services. Is there a chance he was ever down there by himself and I didn’t know it? It’s possible, but I know of no one who ever witnessed him there.”
At the same Tuesday event, Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, a volunteer firefighter who saved an estimated 18 people before dying in the World Trade Center. The tribute came as Trump prepared to skip the official 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero in New York on September 11, instead planning to attend an event at the Pentagon.
Sources
- PBS NewsHour — Trump’s quoted remarks about being lifted by firefighters, verification of September 13, 2001 interviews, and FDNY battalion chief Richard Alles’s statement that he had no knowledge of Trump at Ground Zero
- Mother Jones — Trump’s September 11, 2001 call to WWOR-TV describing watching the attacks from Trump Tower window, more than four miles away
- The Washington Post — Details on Trump’s award of the Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther and the disputed nature of Trump’s Ground Zero account
