U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at journalists and media outlets for berating his 9/11 rescue story as it faced widespread fact-checking and skepticism.
The President delivered a speech on Tuesday September 8 during an event honoring first responders at the White House.
He recounted a story about how he headed to Ground Zero shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and claimed that two large firefighters ‘literally lifted’ him up and ran with him away from a creaking, unstable skyscraper
While Trump suggested he went down to Ground Zero ‘right after this happened,’ public records and his own subsequent clarifications show he was miles away at Trump Tower during the actual attacks.
Critics like California Governor Gavin Newsom quickly labeled the story a ‘lie,’ Rachel Maddow said his story was ‘dubious’ and many online claimed that Trump faked the story.
Trump then took to Truth Social to blast that narrative, and specifically New York Magazine, which published a story claiming that the President told a ‘weird lie about where he was on 9/11.’
‘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,’ the President posted on social media late on Tuesday evening.
‘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 watched the attacks unfold from his Manhattan residence, Trump Tower, but what he did next has been contested by the President’s opponents and some press reports.
He claimed to have brought 100 construction workers down to Ground Zero, according to interviews he gave at the time.
The report claimed that Trump’s remarks at the Pentagon memorial were decided after the President was denied an opportunity to speak at the New York service.
Trump has denied the allegation and reiterated in his post late on Tuesday that no politicians are allowed to speak at the annual ceremony.
‘I have been to the New York solemn ceremony numerous times, and nobody speaks,’ he wrote. ‘Certainly I would not want to violate that, even if I could.’
