Trump Repeats a Disputed Story About Being Carried From Near Ground Zero on 9/11

# What happened At a Tunnel to Towers Foundation event on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., President Trump gave remarks honoring first responders ahead of the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11. He awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Welles Crowther, a volunteer firefighter who helped others escape the South Tower.

During his speech, Trump described being at a "big building" and said that, "right after this happened," two firefighters grabbed him under the arms, lifted him up, and ran with him because they thought the nearby U.S. Steel Building (now One Liberty Plaza) might collapse.

# Why the claim is disputed Journalists and fact-checkers reviewed contemporaneous reporting, archival images and videos, and past versions of Trump's own accounts. Key findings:

• Trump has previously told versions of this story on the 2016 campaign trail and in a 2021 Newsmax interview, though details and timing shifted across tellings.
• Video and photos exist showing Trump in lower Manhattan on Sept. 13, 2001, and he spoke to reporters there, saying he had men working at or near the site. Those materials do not mention being carried or evacuated by firefighters.

# How Trump responded After the Ellipse speech, Trump posted on Truth Social asserting his remarks were "exactly accurate." He clarified that his trip to Ground Zero was "not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers," and he posted an old video of himself in lower Manhattan on Sept. 13, 2001. That video shows him near the site but does not include the firefighters anecdote.

# What fact-checkers say CNN's fact checker Daniel Dale noted Trump was in Trump Tower when the planes hit and that One Liberty Plaza was evacuated on Sept. 12 but that there is no evidence Trump was inside that building. PolitiFact and other outlets similarly reported an absence of corroborating contemporary accounts placing Trump inside One Liberty Plaza or being carried out by firefighters.

# What is clear and what remains unclear

Unclear: Whether Trump was inside the U.S. Steel Building or physically carried by firefighters at any time. Contemporary sources cited by reporters do not document that specific evacuation. Existing images and interviews do show Trump in the vicinity of ground zero days after the attacks but do not corroborate the lift-by-firefighters detail.

# Takeaway for readers The claim that firefighters physically lifted President Trump out of One Liberty Plaza immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks is not supported by the public record cited by news organizations and fact-checkers. Trump's own archival appearances near Ground Zero days later are documented, but they do not provide evidence for the specific anecdote he repeated at the Ellipse.