Trump Ground Zero story draws scrutiny on 9/11 anniversary
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The Trump Ground Zero story resurfaces before 25th anniversary Just days before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Donald Trump is once again drawing attention for dramatic stories about what he says happened to him in the aftermath of the destruction of New York’s Twin Towers.
Speaking Tuesday at a 9/11 remembrance event on the Ellipse near the White House, Trump recalled being near the former U.S. Steel Building close to Ground Zero when, according to him, two firefighters feared the building was about to collapse.
The event, organized by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, featured a 21-foot, or 6.4-meter, steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center. Trump described the firefighters as “big, strong guys” who grabbed him and carried him away.
“They literally lifted me up,” Trump said. “They thought it was coming down.”
The president’s account has renewed scrutiny of his long-running claims about his role and presence around Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Fact-checkers have found evidence showing Trump near the disaster zone in the days after the attacks, but no independent documentation confirming that he personally participated in the rescue or recovery operation in the way he has sometimes described.
Trump Ground Zero Questions: When did the incident occur?
The building Trump referred to is today known as One Liberty Plaza. Located directly across from the World Trade Center site, it was struck by debris and suffered damage during the collapse of the towers but remained standing.
The larger question surrounding Trump’s story is when the alleged firefighter incident took place.
Trump initially said during Tuesday’s ceremony that he had been “down there right after this happened.” Hours later, he clarified on Truth Social that he was not there on September 11 itself, but “shortly thereafter.”
He strongly defended his recollection, writing that everything he had said was “exactly accurate.”
The White House has not produced additional public records establishing when the firefighter episode occurred.
Trump says he brought construction workers to Ground Zero
Trump has also repeatedly said he mobilized workers from his construction businesses following the attacks. In a recent interview, he said he went to Ground Zero on September 12, 2001, accompanied by construction workers, and that they “worked long and hard.”
In earlier versions of the story, Trump said he “helped a little bit” with removing rubble. However, former New York fire officials interviewed by fact-checkers have said they were unaware of a Trump-organized crew working at the disaster site. PolitiFact noted that such a large group would ordinarily have operated under police, fire or emergency-management supervision and likely left records.
What is actually documented?
There is one important piece of contemporary evidence. On September 13, 2001 — two days after the attacks — Trump gave a television interview several blocks from Ground Zero. During that interview with German journalist Stephan Bachenheimer, Trump said he had just been near the disaster site and claimed that more than 100 of his workers were helping in the area.
He made a similar claim in an NBC interview the same day, saying hundreds of his men were working there. Fact-checkers have concluded that Trump’s presence near Ground Zero on September 13 is documented, but they have not independently verified that hundreds of Trump employees were involved in the rescue and recovery work.
Other 9/11 claims have also faced scrutiny
Trump’s recollections of September 11 have been debated for years. In 2015, he said he had watched people jump from the burning Twin Towers from his Manhattan apartment.
Trump Tower, where he lived, is about four miles — roughly 6.4 kilometers — from Ground Zero. He has also previously claimed that thousands of people in Jersey City celebrated while the towers collapsed, a claim that police and multiple fact-checkers said was unsupported.
His supporters, meanwhile, point to contemporary footage from September 13 as evidence that Trump was in Lower Manhattan shortly after the attacks and was publicly discussing his workers’ involvement.
Trump will mark 9/11 anniversary at Pentagon
The renewed debate comes as the United States prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday, September 11. Trump will not attend the main commemoration at Ground Zero in his hometown of New York.
Instead, he plans to participate in the ceremony at the Pentagon, which was also struck during the coordinated attacks. Vice President JD Vance is expected to represent the administration at Ground Zero in New York, while administration officials will also attend the memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.
Twenty-five years after the attacks, Trump’s own memories of those chaotic days are once again becoming part of the national debate over how September 11 is remembered — and what can still be documented from those first hours and days.
