Trump's 9/11 statements come under scrutiny again

Trump's 9/11 statements come under scrutiny again

Trump's statements about 9/11 aftermath activities picked up when he entered political arena

U.S. President Donald Trump this week recounted an incident in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in downtown Manhattan that was long on descriptive detail but not easily verified.

At a Tuesday event in Washington, D.C., organized by a Sept. 11 foundation, Trump recalled being near Ground Zero after the attacks, when the main building at One Liberty Plaza was under stress.

"The United States Steel building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down because it creaked a lot. It creaked. It still creaks. But it never came down," Trump said.

"I will never forget ... 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 and said, 'Gotta get out of here,' and they literally lifted me up."

Trump offered a somewhat similar description of the incident on the presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire in early 2016, though he stressed he wasn't inside the building.

"I must tell you, honestly, I never knew I could run that fast," he said at the time.

It is one of at least four claims Trump has made surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City that have come under scrutiny over time.

As well, between the immediate aftermath of the attacks and when Trump launched his first presidential campaign — a period of about 13 years spanning many media interviews and news conferences — he made few such claims.

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As a result, Trump has been accused by some liberal commentators, as well as former Republican congressman (now an anti-MAGA pundit) Joe Walsh of "stolen valour," the term usually used for ex-military who exaggerate their service careers.

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, who served in the U.S. army in Afghanistan and Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001, also condemned Trump's latest comments.

"This solemn day is not about Trump. It never was, and it never will be," Crowe said on social media. "Our president is a small and sick man to make a day of remembrance and service about himself."

'I have a lot of men down here'

During the 2015-16 presidential campaign, Trump received pushback for claiming that "thousands and thousands of people were cheering" the attacks at an unspecified setting in New Jersey, including a "heavy Arab population."

Trump also said that he had lost "hundreds of friends" in the attacks, a remarkable claim given that just under 3,000 died in the attacks which designated terrorist organization al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for. Trump didn't widely repeat either statement, or provide names to media outlets in the latter example, after they received substantial news coverage.

At Tuesday's event in D.C., Trump said he was "building a big building" in Manhattan at the time of the incident with firefighters. He didn't specify, but it's a possible reference to the Trump World Tower, completed in October 2001 about 40 blocks away from Ground Zero.

What is known is that on Sept. 13, 2001, Trump told a reporter from Germany's Deutsche Welle near Ground Zero that, "I have a lot of men down here right now, we have over 100 or we have about 125 coming, so we'll have a couple of hundred people down here."

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A report the next day in the suburban-based New York paper Newsday mentions Trump's presence near Ground Zero, though not any crew affiliated with the longtime real estate developer.

"The workers are so worn out that they barely glance at the sight of Donald Trump, every hair in place and impeccably dressed in a black suit, pressed white shirt and red tie, walking into the plaza with his cellular phone to his ear," the paper reported.

That November, Trump told Newsday he "sent 225 of my workers and a great deal of excavating equipment to the site."

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Curiously, there is a paucity of such statements between 2002 and mid-2015, when Trump announced his first presidential campaign. He made multiple appearances on Fox News where Sept. 11 is mentioned, including on anniversaries of the attacks, and program transcripts from those appearances reveal no such claims.

This also holds true for two occasions when Trump inserted himself in major post-Sept. 11 developments — in 2005, sponsoring a new tower proposal as he bashed the winning One World Center proposal as a "piece of junk," and a few years later when he offered to buy out the investors of a nearby project that included an Islamic centre.

By the time of the 2016 campaign, Trump was again retrospectively back at the Ground Zero scene, telling a rally in Buffalo, N.Y, that he "helped a little bit."

At a 2019 White House event during this first term as president, he told a gathering that included first responders that he "spent a lot of time down there with you."

"He was a private citizen at the time. I don't know what kind of role he could have possibly played," Richard Alles, who held a supervisory role at Ground Zero, told the New York Times, while separately telling Politifact he didn't see Trump in his months on duty.

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It is possible that Trump is claiming ownership on tenuous grounds, much like he did after the death of Aretha Franklin, when he said the legendary soul singer "worked for me on numerous occasions." Franklin had performed concerts at Trump-owned casinos.

Bovis Lend Lease, a contractor for the Trump World Tower project that subcontracted work to other companies, also had a presence in Ground Zero recovery efforts. It's not clear if any workers were involved in both settings.

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Trump, in a Truth Social post late Tuesday, lashed out at the media reports questioning his claims.

"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 said.

Trump is scheduled to speak at a 25th anniversary event at the Pentagon, the site of one of the 2001 attacks, on Friday.

Chris Iorfida, based in Toronto, has been with CBC since 2002 and written on subjects as diverse as politics, business, health, sports, arts and entertainment, science and technology.