Trump Revises 9/11 Story, Demands Times Retraction

Trump Revises 9/11 Story, Demands Times Retraction

Donald Trump speaking at a podium
Donald Trump, the president, speaking at a podium.Illustration: The Frank

The News

President Trump has revised his account of his own response to the Sept. 11 attacks, saying he was at ground zero "obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter" — after fact-checkers challenged remarks he made Tuesday at a 9/11 first-responder event.

At the Tunnel to Towers Foundation's "Steel Across America" event on the White House Ellipse, Trump said he brought his construction crew downtown "right after this happened" and that two firemen "literally lifted me up" and ran with him because they feared the nearby U.S. Steel Building was about to fall.

In a Truth Social post Tuesday night he called his remarks "exactly accurate," attacked New York Magazine and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, and demanded retractions. The Times said Wednesday it would not retract.

Timeline

Sept. 11, 2001

Trump phones into New Jersey station WWOR-TV from Trump Tower and describes watching the skyline from his window. CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale wrote this week that Trump "was not in the vicinity of the World Trade Center when it was hit."

Sept. 13, 2001

The earliest known video and photos of Trump near ground zero, according to PolitiFact. He tells German station N24, "I have a lot of men down here right now. We have over 100 and we have about 125 coming." Newsday reported seeing him walk into the plaza in a black suit with a phone to his ear. He does not mention firefighters carrying him in either of that day's interviews.

Sept. 6, 2026

In an interview with Fox News's Trey Gowdy, Trump says he went down "the following day — couldn't go down the same day."

Sept. 8, 2026

At the Ellipse event, Trump awards a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, the equities trader and volunteer firefighter known as "the man in the red bandana," and tells the firefighter-hoist story.

Sept. 8, 2026 (night)

Trump posts his rebuttal on Truth Social with 2001 clips attached, revises the timing, and demands retractions.

Sept. 9, 2026

The Times refuses. Trump's nephew Fred Trump publicly disputes the story.

Reactions

Trump, on Truth Social: "The Failing New York Magazine wrote a story that I wasn't down at the World Trade Center after the Tragedy of September 11th, because nobody saw me there. Well, I don't think I would be the first thing on anyone's mind but, I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers." He added: "I was there as soon as the Law allowed."

He said his former head of security, Matthew Calamari, "has confirmed that very sad trip to Lower Manhattan, many times, to many different Journalists, but it's a story that just won't die."

Trump also called Haberman "Maggot Hagerman," said her report that he skipped the New York ceremony because he was not allowed to speak is "made up," and wrote that "politicians and public officials are not permitted to deliver speeches" at the World Trade Center remembrance.

Times spokeswoman Nicole Taylor: "We won't be issuing a retraction. This is another all too common example of the president lashing out at coverage he doesn't like and belittling journalists who report the facts."

Right Side Broadcasting Network, covering the post, wrote that Trump "was indeed on the ground after the 9/11 attacks, as seen in news footage from 2001."

Fred Trump, the president's nephew, said on social media that the claim his uncle brought workers to the site "so offends me that I need to speak out," and that the only crew Trump could have brought "would have been secretarial and accounting employees from Trump Tower." He also disputed that the U.S. Steel Building was in danger, saying an engineer connected to a business partner inspected it after the attacks.

What's Next

No firefighter has come forward publicly to confirm the account, and the White House has named none. PolitiFact said that when it asked how much time Trump spent at ground zero and how many workers he brought, the White House referred it to the Trump Organization, which did not respond.

Trump will mark the 25th anniversary Friday at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration at the New York ceremony, and other officials will visit the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

More

What the record shows

PolitiFact found supporting accounts that fears of a collapse at One Liberty Plaza — the former U.S. Steel Building — prompted evacuations, including at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Sept. 12, 2001, but none that place Trump there. Dale wrote there is "no public evidence" Trump was inside the building in the days after the attacks. PolitiFact also found no evidence Trump brought hundreds of workers to the site, and noted Trump World Tower was under development about five miles uptown in Midtown Manhattan.

Others place him nearby: the Associated Press described Trump "giving high-fives to police officers and volunteers on their way to the World Trade Center site." Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik said in 2019 that Trump "was on Ground Zero numerous times — no cameras, no press, no nothing." Richard Alles, an FDNY battalion chief in 2001, told PolitiFact he knew of no one who witnessed Trump there: "There would be a record of it."

Trump has told a shorter version of the firefighter story before — on the 2016 campaign trail, where he placed it "a couple of days" after the attack, and in a 2021 Newsmax interview.

The other line from the Ellipse

Honoring Crowther, who died helping people escape the South Tower, Trump told the crowd: "He's become more famous than me. I don't like it." He added, "Very unhappy about it." The event showcased a 21-foot, nearly 17,000-pound steel beam recovered from the South Tower, which will move through New York in a procession Friday.

Poll

Do you believe Trump's account that firefighters carried him from a building near ground zero?

Yes — the press is nitpicking
0.0%
No — there's no evidence
0.0%
Partly — he was there, the details are embellished
0.0%
Unsure
0.0%

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