On the anniversary of 9/11, social media users resurfaced a claim that former President Donald Trump has often made but has not supported with evidence, about his involvement in search-and-rescue efforts immediately following the terrorist attacks 22 years ago.
Conservative activist Benny Johnson shared a Facebook video of an interview Trump gave a couple of days after Sept. 11, 2001. Above the video, Johnson wrote, “Joe Biden spent 9/11 hiding in a bunker. Kamala Harris spent it with her boyfriend Montel (Williams). Donald Trump spent 9/11 marching into a war zone of fire & ashes with an army of his own men to save Americans.”
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Regarding Johnson’s characterization of how Biden and Harris spent that day: Biden, then a member of Congress, was evacuated from the Capitol along with other members and staff because of concerns it also might be targeted. Harris, then a city employee in San Francisco, recalled in 2020 that she was at the gym when news of the 9/11 attacks came on the TV. She briefly dated Williams, a TV host and actor.
But Johnson’s post exaggerates Trump’s actions in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. PolitiFact reached out to Johnson but did not receive a response by publication time.
Here’s what we know about Trump’s whereabouts on 9/11 and in the days that followed.
Trump’s claims about his role in recovery efforts at ground zero
Over the years, Trump has made several claims that echo Johnson’s claim. Trump has said he spent “a lot of time” with first responders and helped clear the rubble. He has never provided evidence to support these claims.
The video Johnson shared included footage from Getty Images and a 2001 Trump interview in which he told multiple reporters that he was “just down to ground zero” and that the area was a “disaster.”
News accounts in the days following the attacks put Trump near ground zero, but there’s no record of him helping first responders at the site directly.
On the day of the attacks, Trump called into WWOR-TV, a station serving New York City, and described what he saw from his office in Trump Tower, which was about 4 miles from the World Trade Center.
“I have a window that looks directly at the World Trade Center. I saw this huge explosion, I was with a group of people. I really couldn’t even believe it,” he said.
Two days later, he gave interviews with a German TV station and NBC News a few blocks from ground zero. On Sept. 18, 2001, Trump was photographed outside the New York Stock Exchange, which is less than a half-mile from the World Trade Center.
Richard Alles, a New York City Fire Department battalion chief on Sept. 11, 2001, told PolitiFact in 2019 he had no knowledge of Trump or his employees being at the site.
“I was in a supervisory role with the fire department at the time,” said Alles, who added that he was on the scene about 20 minutes after the second tower collapsed. “I was there for several months — I have no knowledge of (Trump) being down there.”
Trump’s claims about sending hundreds of workers to aid in recovery efforts
Trump has also made several claims about sending hundreds of workers from his company to help with search and rescue at ground zero. These claims also lack evidence.
In a Sept. 13, 2001, interview with a German TV station, Trump said, “I have a lot of men down here right now. We have over 100 and we have about 125 coming. So, we’ll have a couple hundred people down here.”
He made similar comments in an NBC News interview the same day: “I have hundreds of men inside working right now, and we’re bringing down another 125 in a little while.”
Trump repeated these remarks in the interview clip Johnson shared. This interview also took place on Sept. 13, 2001.
“I have over 100 men down here digging out,” Trump said to a group of reporters. “Out here doing an amazing job so I just want to give them some support. … We have another 100 coming in a little while.”
Alles, the former New York fire chief, previously told PolitiFact that if Trump had sent a 100-worker crew to ground zero, “there would be a record of it.”
“Everybody worked under direct supervision of the police and fire department and the joint commander for emergency services. Is there a chance he was ever down there by himself and I didn’t know it? It’s possible, but I know of no one who ever witnessed him there,” Alles said.
PolitiFact reached out to Trump’s 2024 campaign, but it provided no evidence to support these claims. Other news outlets, including The Washington Post and The Associated Press, have previously sought information about how Trump helped after 9/11, and received no responses from Trump’s team.
Our ruling
In a Facebook post, Johnson claimed, “Donald Trump spent 9/11 marching into a war zone of fire and ashes with an army of his own men to save Americans.”
News accounts from that time put Trump about 4 miles from ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, and footage shows him blocks away on Sept. 13, 2001, and Sept. 18, 2001. None of those images or reports show him amid fire and ashes. And there is no record he was directly involved with first responders at the scene or that he sent hundreds of workers to aid the recovery. When asked, Trump has not provided evidence to corroborate the claims.
We rate this claim False.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
