The more President Donald Trump sought to resolve questions about his actions in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the more scrutiny he drew. And the backlash to his latest assertions has left him defending his 9/11 record while sparking even more questions about it.
In a fresh volley on Truth Social, Trump attacked New York Magazine for challenging his version of visiting Ground Zero and then redirected his ire toward New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman over his choice to attend the Pentagon’s 25th anniversary ceremony instead of Ground Zero.
Yet the dispute emerged as Trump’s newest recollections of that day and its aftermath kept clashing with earlier narratives and a rising tide of online skepticism.
Trump maintains he was at Ground Zero not long after the attacks, says construction workers were with him, and asserts firefighters physically pulled him away just before the towers collapsed. Yet those who were present, a family member, and social media users have challenged his accounts, pointing to noticeable inconsistencies.
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“The Failing New York Magazine published a piece claiming I wasn’t down at the World Trade Center after the Tragedy of September 11th, because no one saw me there,” Trump wrote on Tuesday. “Well, I doubt I would be the first person anyone thinks of, but I was there, clearly not on the day of the collapse, but shortly afterward, with a large group of Construction Workers.”
Trump said he had already addressed the matter in his Ellipse remarks and insisted that his version was accurate, pointing to video clips and his former security chief Matthew Calamari as corroboration of his presence in Lower Manhattan, the Independent reported.
“The Fake News doesn’t want to listen, even when they know their story is false. That’s why their approval ratings are at an All Time LOW, but mine are VERY HIGH!”
The controversy had already intensified before Trump’s Truth Social post.
During a Sunday Fox News interview with Trey Gowdy, Trump claimed he went downtown the day after the attacks with construction workers and that they “worked long and hard.” His remarks revived longstanding questions about whether the large recovery crew he has described ever went to the site at all.
“I was building a building in New York, and I had a lot of construction workers, and I went down there very shortly thereafter, the following day,” Trump said. “You couldn’t go down the same day, but like the following day, very, very quickly afterward, and we worked long and hard.”
Then, at Tuesday’s Ellipse ceremony honoring 9/11 victims and heroes, Trump added another extraordinary detail to his version.
“We thought it was coming down on top of us. And two firemen, big strong guys… They grabbed me under the arms — said, ‘got to get out of here!’ — and they literally lifted me up … and they started running with me,” Trump claimed.
That version has drawn particular scrutiny because Trump has also said he did not go to Ground Zero until the following day. Online critics quickly seized on the contradiction.
“Still at it. Stolen valor,” one said on X. Another commenter wrote: “Any of us with common sense who aren’t part of a cult can all agree that the man lies so much he probably doesn’t even realize when he’s lying. I’ve seen my fair share of presidents come and go but never can I recall seeing one refer to a reporter as a maggot or piggy. Have you?”
A third wrote: “Trump doesn’t just tell lies, he tells stupid lies. The kind that are so easily proven false that a six-year-old could do it.”
The president’s nephew, Fred Trump, also challenged his account, saying he was offended by the president’s claim that he brought a crew of workers to the site.
“I try not to comment personally about my uncle, but his claim that he brought a crew of workers to help at the site is so offensive to me that I must speak out,” Fred Trump wrote on X.
Previously, the president accused Haberman of falsely reporting that he would skip Friday’s Ground Zero ceremony because organizers would not let him speak.
“On another September 11th front, Maggot Hagerman continues to say that I did not go to the New York World Trade Center event, but the Pentagon instead, because they wouldn’t let me speak in New York.”
“Maggot knows that this is a lie! I have attended the New York solemn ceremony countless times, and nobody speaks. It is a stated fact that, ‘Politicians and public officials are not permitted to deliver speeches or remarks at the official September 11 anniversary remembrance ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York.’”
Trump continued: “Hagerman, unattractive both inside and out, fully knows that her story is fabricated. She knows less about me than the average reporter ‘on the beat.’”
“I haven’t spoken to her in a long time, and there was certainly no ‘fact checking’ for her story – There never is! Let her reveal her sources, because they don’t exist.”
The New York Times rejected the attack.
In a post by NYTimes Communications on X, the newspaper directed readers to its coverage and stated: “Readers can follow our coverage of the president’s 9/11 plans, and the evolving — and often disputed — account of his actions on Sept. 11.”
The post included a statement from Nicole Taylor, a Times spokesperson: “We won’t be issuing a retraction. This is another all too common example of the president lashing out at coverage he doesn’t like and belittling journalists who report the facts.”
