TRUMP’S 9/11 STORY | OGM News — Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, President Donald J. Trump has offered another extraordinary recollection of that terrible day — describing how two “big, strong” firefighters allegedly grabbed him under the arms and carried him away from danger. The problem is that the historical record places Trump roughly four miles from Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, speaking by telephone from his office, while evidence of the alleged firefighter rescue has not surfaced.
TRUMP’S 9/11 STORY — FROM “I SAW IT FROM MY OFFICE” TO “THE FIREMEN CARRIED ME”
TRUMP’S 9/11 STORY | OGM News — Trump’s contemporaneous account was considerably less cinematic. During his September 11 telephone interview with WWOR-TV, he described watching the World Trade Center from his office and spoke about the condition of his nearby properties. He also famously observed that 40 Wall Street was now “the tallest” building in the area — although fact-checkers later established that it was actually the second-tallest surviving building in Lower Manhattan.
The later version adds considerably more Hollywood: Trump recalled firefighters allegedly grabbing him under the arms and running with him because they feared another building might collapse. Yet contemporary accounts and subsequent fact-checking have found no evidence placing Trump in the immediate recovery operation or confirming such a rescue. A former New York City fire chief who was at Ground Zero told PolitiFact that he had no knowledge of Trump or his employees participating in the recovery effort.
TRUMP’S 9/11 STORY — THE 9/11 RECORD VERSUS THE 9/11 RECOLLECTION
TRUMP’S 9/11 STORY | OGM News — The resurfacing of Trump’s old television interview has created an awkward historical contrast. The footage shows him describing what he saw from his office on the day of the attacks, while later accounts have portrayed him as being much more physically involved in the aftermath. PolitiFact has previously noted that Trump’s claims about helping clear rubble and sending large numbers of workers to Ground Zero were not supported by available evidence.
There is also the matter of Trump’s comments about the attacks themselves. In 2001, he speculated that bombs might have been involved in bringing down the towers; subsequent investigations established that the buildings collapsed following the aircraft impacts and resulting fires. Separately, records reviewed by New York City’s comptroller in 2016 found no evidence that Trump or a Trump entity donated to two major 9/11 charities during the audited periods, despite a public promise to donate to the Twin Towers Fund. That finding concerned the specified audit periods and should not be expanded into a claim that Trump never made any charitable contribution connected to 9/11.
TRUMP’S 9/11 STORY | OGM News — The central question is therefore not whether Donald Trump was physically in New York on September 11 — he was — but how his various recollections of his role that day compare with the contemporaneous record. As America marks another anniversary of the attacks, readers should watch for further documentation, video evidence and responses concerning the firefighter-rescue story, while OGM News continues to follow developments and separate the historical record from the political storytelling surrounding it.
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