Donald Trump has claimed that two firefighters lifted him from the ground and carried him away from a building near Ground Zero following the September 11 attacks.
The US president told the story during a commemorative event marking the 25th anniversary of the atrocities, describing how the former United States Steel Building began making alarming noises while he was nearby.
Trump said “two firemen, big, strong guys” grabbed him under his arms because they feared the building was about to collapse.
“They literally lifted me up.”
He claimed the firefighters then “started running with me” until he assured them that he could move without their assistance.
There is one substantial problem with the account: no evidence has been produced showing that it happened.
The White House has not identified the firefighters involved, provided a date for the alleged incident or released records placing Trump inside the building at the time.
Trump describes being carried to safety
Trump made the comments at the Steel Across America event on the Ellipse near the White House.
The event, organised by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, featured a steel beam recovered from the South Tower and honoured those killed during the attacks.
Trump also posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, the 24-year-old equities trader and volunteer firefighter known as “the man in the red bandana”.
Crowther helped people escape from the South Tower before being killed when it collapsed.
During the same speech, Trump turned to his own experience following the attacks.
He claimed he had taken a large group of construction workers to Lower Manhattan to help with recovery efforts. Trump then described standing close to the US Steel Building, now known as One Liberty Plaza, when it appeared to be in danger.
The president said the building was “creaking” and that people believed it could fall.
Trump did not say precisely when the alleged rescue occurred.
No evidence firefighters carried Trump
Photographs and television footage confirm that Trump was in Lower Manhattan in the days following the attacks.
He appeared in a German television interview near Ground Zero on September 13, 2001, two days after the Twin Towers were destroyed.
That does not verify his account of entering the US Steel Building or being carried away by firefighters.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale said there was no public evidence that Trump had gone inside the building while concerns about its stability were circulating, let alone that firefighters had rushed him to safety.
The White House was asked for evidence and further details about the story but reportedly supplied none.
The claim is therefore unverified rather than disproved by a definitive record of Trump’s movements at every moment. However, an incident involving a nationally known property developer being physically carried from a threatened skyscraper by emergency workers might reasonably be expected to have produced witnesses, records or the identities of those involved.
None has emerged during the 25 years since the attacks.
This is not the first version of the story
Although the remarks attracted attention as a new 9/11 claim, Trump told a similar story while campaigning in New Hampshire in January 2016.
In that version, he said the incident occurred “a couple of days” after the attacks.
Trump described standing with two large firefighters when they heard what sounded like steel scraping against steel. He claimed the men grabbed his arms and began running because they thought the nearby building was coming down.
The latest account changed that slightly, with Trump now describing the firefighters as lifting him from the ground and carrying him.
Contemporary reports confirm that there were fears about the condition of One Liberty Plaza after debris from the World Trade Center struck surrounding buildings.
However, New York officials repeatedly said the skyscraper was structurally sound. It reopened less than two months later.
Trump repeats disputed construction crew claim
Trump also repeated his assertion that he brought a substantial crew of workers to assist at Ground Zero.
“Everyone went down with me.”
That claim has been scrutinised for years without supporting employment records, official documentation or testimony from members of the alleged crew being produced.
In 2019, retired New York Fire Department battalion chief Richard Alles told PolitiFact that he had no knowledge of Trump’s workers participating in the recovery operation.
Alles said an organised group of that size would have operated under police and fire department supervision and should therefore have appeared in official records.
“There would be a record of it.”
Trump was interviewed near the site on September 13, 2001, and claimed that he had hundreds of workers helping to locate survivors and identify victims.
No evidence has subsequently emerged to verify that description.
Footage from the period shows Trump in the surrounding neighbourhood wearing a clean suit. It does not show him working on the Ground Zero recovery site.
White House attacks media coverage
A White House spokesperson defended the president following questions about the account.
The administration said Trump had been describing his experience of New York in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and accused the media of using a commemorative event to attack him.
Trump later insisted on Truth Social that everything he had said was accurate.
He clarified that he had not claimed to be at Ground Zero on the day the towers collapsed, but maintained that he arrived shortly afterwards with construction workers.
That clarification addresses suggestions that he presented himself as being at the World Trade Center on September 11 itself. It does not provide evidence for either the construction crew or firefighter story.
Trump’s previous disputed 9/11 claims
This is not the first time Trump’s recollections of September 11 have faced scrutiny.
During a television interview on the day of the attacks, Trump said his building at 40 Wall Street had become the tallest in Lower Manhattan following the destruction of the Twin Towers.
It had not. Another skyscraper, 70 Pine Street, remained taller.
Trump has also claimed that he spent considerable time with emergency responders at Ground Zero. Previous fact-checks found no documentation supporting that description.
His appearance in Lower Manhattan shortly after the attacks is not in dispute. The question is whether his role resembled the extensive recovery work and dramatic escape he has described.
Twenty-five years later, the president has still not produced the witnesses or records that could settle that question in his favour.
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