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At an occasion forward of the twenty fifth anniversary of 9/11, President Donald Trump advised a narrative Tuesday during which he mentioned two firefighters picked him up off the bottom close to the U.S. Metal Constructing near floor zero “proper after” the terrorist assaults and whisked him away as a result of they thought the constructing was going to break down on them.
“I’ll always remember two firemen, we thought it was coming down on prime of us, and two firemen, massive, robust guys. And I’m not the smallest man on the earth. They grabbed me beneath the arm, mentioned, ‘Received to get out of right here,’” Trump mentioned, with out specifying precisely when the incident occurred.
“They actually lifted me up. This isn’t straightforward to do. I’m massive. They lifted me up, and so they began operating with me. I mentioned, ‘Fellas, I can run myself.’ However they had been wonderful. However they thought it was coming down,” he added.
Trump, who mentioned in his remarks that he was “down there proper after this occurred,” later mentioned on Reality Social that he was not on the World Commerce Middle “on the identical day because the collapse, however shortly thereafter.”
“All the pieces I mentioned was precisely correct,” he mentioned of his remarks on the Ellipse outdoors the White Home, sharing a TV information clip of him talking after the assaults.
Requested for extra readability about Trump’s timeline and actions following 9/11, White Home spokesperson Davis Ingle mentioned he “was relaying his expertise of a metropolis reeling instantly after and within the days and weeks after the horrific assaults.”
Trump has advised the firefighter story at the least as soon as earlier than, throughout a January 2016 marketing campaign cease in New Hampshire.
He has spoken many occasions about what he noticed on Sept. 11, 2001, and his actions within the speedy aftermath. Right here’s a glance again at what he has mentioned, a lot of which has not been independently verified.
August 2026: Seeing the second aircraft hit
In an interview with Fox Information host Trey Gowdy, which aired partly Sunday, Trump mentioned he watched because the second aircraft hit the South Tower of the World Commerce Middle.
“I’m watching, and I noticed the second aircraft hit, and also you noticed that come, and also you’re watching it, and it’s — as a result of I watched the air patterns for years, and also you, you realize, you realize the place the planes are. They go up proper up the Hudson River. This factor was coming proper into the second constructing. And I mentioned, ‘Wow!’ So I watched that occur,” Trump mentioned within the interview, shortly after he mentioned he watched the scene unfold from his midtown house.
Trump additionally mentioned he went right down to floor zero on Sept. 12, telling Gowdy he “labored lengthy and exhausting” with a crew of development employees to assist on the scene.
“I used to be constructing a constructing in New York, and I had a whole lot of development employees. And I went down there very shortly thereafter. The next day — you couldn’t go down the identical day, however, like, the next day, very, in a short time afterwards. And we labored lengthy and exhausting, but it surely was simply so horrible and so hopeless,” he mentioned.
April 2016: Sifting by rubble
At a marketing campaign rally in Buffalo, New York, Trump mentioned he helped clear rubble after the assaults.
Trump was speaking about “New York values,” talking about eating places and companies that stayed open to assist first responders and others in want.
“These folks had been going by terror, and you realize what occurred? Everybody who helped clear the rubble — and I used to be there, and I watched, and I helped somewhat bit,” Trump mentioned, including, “You didn’t know what was gonna come down on all of us.”
All 26 members of Congress from the State of New York stood collectively on the Home flooring on Thursday to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror assaults.
November 2015: Witnessing folks bounce
Trump mentioned at a Nov. 23, 2015, marketing campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio, that he noticed folks bounce out of the dual towers from a window in his house.
Trump Tower, the place Trump lived on the time, is 4 miles from floor zero.
“Many individuals jumped, and I witnessed it, I watched that. I’ve a view — a view in my house that was particularly aimed on the World Commerce Middle. And I watched these folks bounce, and I watched the second aircraft hit. …I noticed the second aircraft hit the constructing, and I mentioned, ‘Wow that’s unbelievable,’” he mentioned.
He had advised a neighborhood information station in a cellphone interview on Sept. 11, 2001, that he had spoken to somebody that day who witnessed “at the least 10 folks” leaping out of the dual towers.
November 2015: Watching folks cheer
Trump fed right into a conspiracy concept that “hundreds” of individuals cheered in New Jersey as the dual towers fell, telling supporters at a Nov. 21, 2015, marketing campaign rally in Birmingham, Alabama, that he witnessed celebrations in Jersey Metropolis.
“I watched in Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey, the place hundreds and hundreds of individuals had been cheering as that constructing was coming down. Hundreds of individuals had been cheering,” Trump mentioned.
He advised George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” in November 2015, “There have been those who had been cheering on the opposite aspect of New Jersey, the place you’ve massive Arab populations.”
“They had been cheering because the World Commerce Middle got here down. I do know it may be not politically appropriate so that you can discuss it, however there have been folks cheering as that constructing got here down — as these buildings got here down — and that tells you one thing. It was nicely coated on the time.”
There is no such thing as a proof that hundreds of individuals celebrated in New Jersey following the assault. Native police debunked rumors on the time that folks cheered.
Gabe Gutierrez contributed.
