President Donald Trump recently reiterated a personal account of being carried by firefighters away from the area near ground zero in the days after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. This retelling is part of an evolving narrative Trump has shared regarding his presence and actions following the attacks.
During an event hosted by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, Trump stated, "The United States Steel building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down." He described how "two firemen, big, strong guys" lifted him up and carried him away, saying, "They grabbed me under the arms, said, 'Got to get out of here.' And they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I’m big. They lifted me up and they started running with me."
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle commented that Trump was "relaying his experience of a city reeling" after the attacks. Ingle pointed to social media posts from Trump that included images of him in New York City in the aftermath of the attacks, prompted by a New York Magazine article that characterized his story about the firefighters as a "weird lie about where he was on 9/11."
Trump responded to the criticism on social media, posting, "I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers,” and asserting, "everything I said was exactly accurate."
This is not the first time Trump has shared a version of this story, although there is no verifiable evidence that the specific incident with the firefighters occurred. He previously recounted a similar experience at a campaign event in New Hampshire in January 2016, stating, "These two guys there were massive guys, two really big -- because I'm a big guy and they grabbed me. I must tell you, honestly, I never knew I could run that fast."
Over the years, Trump has made several other claims related to 9/11 that have not been confirmed. These include asserting that he witnessed the attack firsthand, despite Trump Tower being located four miles from the World Trade Center site. In 2019, he said, "I was looking out from a building in midtown Manhattan directly at the World Trade Center when I saw a second plane, at a tremendous speed, go into the second tower."
Another unconfirmed claim involves thousands of Muslims celebrating the attack. In 2015, Trump told rally attendees, "I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering." His campaign at the time reportedly failed to provide proof of these alleged celebrations.