President Donald Trump has reignited controversy over his actions following the 9/11 attacks. Trump claimed he deployed construction workers to Ground Zero and labored alongside them in the aftermath. First responders and available records contradict those statements.
Donald Trump makes bizarre claim about 9/11 aftermath
Speaking with Trey Gowdy, Trump described watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center. He then claimed his construction crew arrived at the site the next day. “We worked long and hard, but it was just so terrible and so hopeless,” Trump said.
Richard Alles, a former deputy chief with the New York Fire Department, spent months at Ground Zero. He previously told The New York Times he never saw Trump there. “I have no knowledge of his being down there,” Alles told Politifact. He added that all workers operated under strict police and fire department supervision.
Donald Trump’s 9/11 accounts have shifted repeatedly over the years. In 2015, he claimed his apartment gave a direct view of the towers and that he watched people jump. The World Trade Center stood more than four miles from Trump’s building at 725 Fifth Avenue. On September 11, 2001, Trump called into WWOR-TV. He claimed 40 Wall Street had become the tallest building in lower Manhattan after the towers fell. Two days later, he told reporters he had “100 men working down here” at Ground Zero.
Furthermore, Trump also told Gowdy that New York rebuilt the site remarkably fast. “Just the removal of the debris, this was like a mountain,” he said. He praised the construction of the new World Trade Center, stating that New York City never received enough credit for the speed of the rebuild.
Moreover, no official records place Trump at the disaster site. No photographs show him assisting with debris removal. Firefighters who managed the recovery operation have consistently stated they never encountered him. Trump will not attend New York City’s 25th anniversary memorial ceremony. All four living former presidents plan to attend the event.
