World
Trump's 9/11 Ground Zero Rescue Claim Disputed by Fact-Checkers and Fire Officials
US President Donald Trump is facing renewed scrutiny after repeating claims that firefighters carried him away from danger near the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and that he spent days working at Ground Zero afterward. Multiple news organizations have fact-checked the claims and found them unsubstantiated.
Speaking at an event honoring 9/11 first responders, Trump described being rescued near One Liberty Plaza, a building located across the street from the World Trade Center site. "Two firemen, big strong guys, they grabbed me under the arms — 'you've got to get out of here!' — and they literally lifted me up, and they started running with me," Trump said. "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 Federal Reserve Bank of New York has noted that during the attacks, there were initial fears that One Liberty Plaza, formerly known as the US Steel Building, might collapse.
CNN characterized Trump's account as misleading, stating he was miles from the World Trade Center that day and was not evacuated from any building near Ground Zero. The Washington Post described the claim as disputed.
According to PBS, the earliest documented evidence of Trump near the disaster site comes from interviews he gave on September 13, two days after the attacks. In those interviews, Trump said he had brought approximately 100 construction workers from his company to assist in the aftermath and that he was present to motivate them.
However, independent fact-checking organization PolitiFact found no corroborating evidence when it spoke with personnel who worked at the scene. Richard Alles, who served as a New York City Fire Department battalion chief overseeing rescue operations, told the outlet in 2019 that he had no record supporting Trump's claim of being at Ground Zero or organizing 100 workers. Alles was quoted by the New York Times saying, "I spent many months there myself, and I never witnessed him."
This contradicts Trump's statement that he spent considerable time at the site alongside first responders, though he has stated he does not consider himself one.
The New York Times also challenged Trump's broader narrative, noting that by his 2015 presidential campaign, his account had expanded to include unverified claims — including that he personally witnessed people jumping from the towers, possibly viewed through a telescope from Trump Tower, which sits roughly four miles from the World Trade Center. The newspaper also referenced Trump's widely debunked claim that Muslims in New Jersey celebrated after the planes struck the towers.
When CNN sought documentation supporting the president's account, the White House responded that no such records existed, noting in an unsigned email that Trump was a private citizen at the time and "not everything he did was documented."
The administration later pushed back against media fact-checks. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said Trump had spent the morning honoring first responders and their families, adding that using the moment to scrutinize his remarks was "a disgrace" and further evidence of declining public trust in media.
Trump himself rejected the fact-checks as "fake news" and fabricated. "I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of construction workers," he said, adding, "Check out the clips of me at the World Trade Center site. I was there as soon as the law allowed." He shared video clips of interviews from that period, though none could be verified as having been recorded on September 13, 2001. Trump further suggested media outlets were "angry, and sick" over his election victories.
The September 11, 2001 attacks involved al-Qaeda hijackers crashing planes into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and the Pentagon, with a fourth plane crashing in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, and thousands more have since suffered illnesses linked to toxic dust and debris.