Ground Zero construction crews, firefighter hoist: Fact-checking Trump’s 9/11 response stories

President Donald Trump recounted his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in an interview and event leading up to the 25th anniversary this week, repeating statements that lack evidence about aiding in the recovery. 

“I was building a building in New York, and I had a lot of construction workers. And I went down there very shortly thereafter, the following day — couldn’t go down the same day — but the following day,” Trump said in the interview with Fox News’s Trey Gowdy that aired Sept. 6. “Very quickly afterwards. And we worked long and hard.”

In a Sept. 8 event honoring 9/11 emergency responders on the White House Ellipse, Trump said that he was carried by firefighters from the site when the nearby One Liberty Plaza — formerly called the U.S. Steel Building — started to creak, prompting fears of a collapse.

“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,” he 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 native New Yorker has told a shorter version of that story before. There are supporting accounts that a fear of the building collapsing prompted evacuations, though none specifically say Trump was there. A history page on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s website says employees were forced to leave the Fed building Sept. 12 because of concerns that the nearby One Liberty Plaza might collapse.

Trump has long talked about his 9/11 response, saying he spent a lot of time at Ground Zero and brought hundreds of workers to aid in the recovery effort. Trump did multiple interviews near the site on Sept. 13, and said at the time he had brought construction workers to help out. 

PolitiFact previously found no evidence that Trump brought hundreds of workers to the site, and other fact-checkers have similarly found the evidence lacking. Trump World Tower was under development in 2001 in Midtown Manhattan, about 5 miles from the World Trade Center. 

When asked for more information about how much time Trump spent at Ground Zero and how many workers he brought, the White House referred PolitiFact to the Trump Organization. The Trump Organization didn’t return a request for comment. 

How involved was Trump in the 9/11 recovery?

The earliest video or photo of Trump near Ground Zero is from Sept. 13, 2001. He gave an interview to a German TV station and spoke with the press on other occasions that day. He said he had workers aiding in recovery. 

“I have a lot of men down here right now,” he told German TV station N24. “We have over 100 and we have about 125 coming. So we’ll have a couple hundred people down here. And they’re very brave and what they’re doing is amazing. And we will be involved in some form in helping to reconstruct.” 

In another Sept. 13 interview, he said 100 men from his company were working at the site, and he was there “to spur them on.” 

PolitiFact was unable to verify that he directly aided in cleanup or visited the site repeatedly in the following weeks or months.

Richard Alles, who was 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 to help. 

“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.”

Other reports place Trump near Ground Zero in the days after the attack, but the extent to which he was involved in cleanup is unclear. News accounts described Trump “giving high-fives to police officers and volunteers on their way to the World Trade Center site,” The Associated Press reported. CNN referenced a Newsday report that said Trump had been spotted at Ground Zero on Sept. 13, “every hair in place and impeccably dressed in a black suit.” 

In a 2019 report from the conservative website Breitbart, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said Trump “was on Ground Zero numerous times — no cameras, no press, no nothing, but he came down to motivate and inspire the men and women down there that were working on the pile.” 

Trump’s commemorations on the 25th anniversary of 9/11

Trump does not plan to attend the 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on Sept. 11, instead attending a ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, which was also attacked on 9/11.

The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that Trump’s decision to skip the New York event was, in part, because he was not allowed to deliver a speech. The 9/11 Memorial and Museum has barred politicians from speaking at the site since 2012.

Trump disputed the reporting and insulted Times reporter Maggie Haberman in a Truth Social post. 

“This is more Corrupt News, I’ve been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks, it’s a ‘solemn ceremony!’” Trump wrote, adding, “I would love not to speak, because I’m speaking all the time, and this is a day to remember the victims, and their beautiful family members.” 

Vice President JD Vance will attend the New York event, while other administration officials will visit the Flight 93 National Memorial site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.