Donald Trump Doubles Down On 9/11 Rescue Claims Ahead of 25th Anniversary

President Donald Trump is doubling down on his false claim he was saved by 9/11 first responders immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York City.

“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,” Trump, 80, claimed via TruthSocial on Tuesday, September 8. “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.”

Earlier in the day, the commander-in-chief made headlines when he spoke at a Tunnel to Towers Foundation event near the White House, recalling an alleged incident in which he claimed two “big and strong” firemen carried him to safety near the World Trade Center on that fateful day. (Numerous investigations and Trump’s own comments during a live interview with New York’s WWOR-TV the day of the attacks show the then-reality TV star was miles away from the scene at the time of his alleged rescue.)

“Everything I said was exactly accurate and, to prove the point, I am attaching clips of me there with numerous of my people, including my then Head of Security, Matthew Calamari, who 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 claimed in his TruthSocial post. “The Fake News doesn’t want to listen, even when they know their story is false.”

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A detailed fact check by Newsweek in 2024 investigated Trump’s claims and found that there was “no evidence that Trump helped clear rubble or helped find survivors on 9/11.”

Richard Alles, a retired deputy chief with the New York Fire Department, also told The New York Times in 2019 that Trump was never present at ground zero during or in the wake of the attacks.

The White House, however, continued to stand by Trump’s remarks when members of the media pushed back with evidence.

“President Trump spent the morning paying tribute to the heroic first responders who laid down their lives in service to others in the September 11th attacks and honoring their incredible families,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement to Us on Tuesday. “The President was relaying his experience of a city reeling immediately after and in the days and weeks after the horrific attacks — and the fact that the failing legacy media is using this to try to attack him is a disgrace and yet another reason why Americans’ trust in the media is at an all-time low.”

In his TruthSocial post, Trump also took aim at New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman — who he referred to as “Maggot Hagerman” — and slammed her reporting that he will be attending an event at the Pentagon instead of the World Trade Center on Friday, September 11, because organizers won’t let him speak in New York.

“Maggot knows that this is a lie! I have been to the New York solemn ceremony numerous times, and nobody speaks,” Trump claimed. “Hagerman, unattractive both inside and out, fully knows that her story is made up. She knows less about me than the average reporter ‘on the beat.’ I haven’t spoken to her in a long time, and certainly there was no ‘fact checking’ for her story — There never is! Let her reveal her sources, because they don’t exist.”

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While Trump demanded a retraction for the story, The New York Times issued a public statement saying the organization stands by its reporters and their reporting.

“We won’t be issuing a retraction,” Nicole Taylor, a spokesperson for The New York Times, said in a statement via X on Wednesday, September 9. “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.”

The publication added, “Readers can follow our coverage of the president’s 9/11 plans, and the evolving — and often disputed — account of his actions on Sept 11 here.”