President Donald Trump has lashed out in a lengthy tirade after he was called out for his questionable comments relating to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Trump, 80, was speaking at a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary on Tuesday when he said, “The United States Steel Building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down.”
He then went on to describe how he was rescued by firefighters from a building just yards from the Twin Towers.
The senior president did not clarify when the alleged incident occurred.
“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 arm, said, ‘Got to get out of here!’ And they literally lifted me up,” Trump said.
“This is not easy to do. I’m big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, ‘Fellas, I can run myself’ – but they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn’t come down.”
Trump was in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan at the time of the attacks. That building is two and a half miles away from the World Trade Center and the U.S. Steel Building he mentioned—now One Liberty Plaza.
In a 476-word Truth Social screed on Tuesday evening, Trump insisted he was at the World Trade Center, but was not specific about the timing.
“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,” Trump claimed.
“Everything I said was exactly accurate.”
Trump also included a video, which, according to USA Today, is from an interview on Sept. 13, 2001, where he speaks to reporters, saying he had just been down to Ground Zero and that it was “a disaster.”
His post said, “I was there as soon as the Law allowed.”
The epic Truth Social post also saw Trump insult a regular foe, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who the president calls “Maggot Hagerman.”
Last month, the publication broke the story that Trump would not be at Ground Zero in New York for the 25th anniversary memorial, but at the Pentagon, as politicians and public officials are barred from making speeches at the site.
Trump barked, “Maggot knows that this is a lie! I have been to the New York solemn ceremony numerous times, and nobody speaks.”
He added, “Certainly I would not want to violate that, even if I could. I speak enough, and it just so happens that the strong request was made for me to be at the Pentagon instead, with VP Vance handling our Administration’s representation in New York.”
The president did not clarify who made the request, and his comments do not align with what the vice president said last week. “We just decided as a team that I would go to New York for 9/11, and the president would stay here in D.C. to commemorate what happened at the Pentagon, because that was a critical part of of the tragedy of 9/11 as well,” Vance said, when asked why Trump was not going to be at Ground Zero.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
