For many years, President Donald Trump has made false statements about what he did on September 11, 2001, and the days that followed.On Tuesday, he introduced a new part to a claim that has already been proven wrong.
He spoke at a remembrance event in Washington D.C.
called “Steel Across America,” which was organized by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.The event was held for first responders and families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks.
During his speech, Trump talked about what he was doing on the day of the attacks.
He repeated old claims that he could see damage to the World Trade Center from his window and that he took a group of his workers to Ground Zero to help after the attacks.
He also said that two firefighters “literally lifted me up” and “started running with me” to get him out of a building that they thought might collapse.
A transcript of Trump’s remarks from the video clip above:
In the course of history, there are a few moments that divide time into really what came before, when you look at what took place that day, nobody will ever even think of such a thing being able to happen again. And we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t.
That was a day like no other. September 11th was one of those moments in time where you always — everybody knows exactly where they were. I know exactly where I was, I was watching, and looking, and it was a beautiful, beautiful morning. And I looked out and then all of a sudden I saw an alert on television. I looked out my window and I saw things that I never want to see again. We’re never going to see them again.
But in just over 100 minutes, 175,000 tons of steel and concrete were reduced to ruin, and 3,000 lives were extinguished, immediately extinguished. The world we knew and the nation that we loved have — had changed. I said it to myself and I looked and I said, “Well, the world has changed forever.”
So many things have changed because of that day. Yet this battered piece of steel here today on the ellipse is a reminder that America is blessed with the strength no fire can consume, no evil can conquer, and no terror can destroy. For three months after Sept. 11th, the flames raged in the rubble of Ground Zero. For nine months, rescue and recovery crews worked day and night on the site.
I want to just thank my people — I took a lot of my — I was building a big building in New York, and I took the whole crew down there right after this happened, and they were — they had no hesitation. Everybody went down with me. We went down as a big group of people. Wasn’t too much we could do, I’ll be honest. It was, it was raw, and nobody’s seen anything like it, ever.
We had other buildings, the United States Steel Building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down. The truth is, it creaked a lot. It creaked. It still creaks, but, uh, it never came down.
And I — I’ll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big, strong guys. And I’m not the smallest guy in the world. They grabbed me under the arms. They — “Gotta 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. I said, “Fellas, I can run myself.” But they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down — it didn’t come down. U.S. Steel, the 16,000 pound beam lifted from the wreckage of the South Tower, will forever testify to the courage and resilience and spirit of a city and a nation that saw our homeland, struck our towers, knocked down and stood back up stronger, more determined, and more united than ever before.
Many fact-checkers have looked into these claims over time and found no proof to back them up.
It’s not realistic for two firefighters, who are usually shorter than Trump, to pick him up under his arms and run with him — even if he was younger and lighter.
CNN’s Daniel Dale was one of many people who quickly pointed out the inaccuracies in Trump’s statements.
President Trump was not in the vicinity of the World Trade Center when it was hit. He was in Trump Tower, miles away from the towers and nearby One Liberty Plaza, which is/was also known as the US Steel building.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 8, 2026
There was public concern in the days following the attack that One…
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