President Donald Trump over the weekend claimed he and his workers helped at ground zero the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks ― a claim he’s made before, despite no evidence that he or his employees were doing so.
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“I went down. I was building a building in New York and I had a lot of construction workers,” Trump told Fox News host Trey Gowdy. “And I went down there very shortly thereafter ― the following day, you couldn’t go down the same day, but like the following day, very very quickly afterwards ― and we worked long and hard. But it was just so terrible and so hopeless, it was so hopeless, such a terrible thing.”
Trump claims that after 9/11, “I went down, I was building a building in New York, and I went down there very shortly thereafter — the following day, you couldn’t go down the same day — and we worked long and hard” pic.twitter.com/kt7IreXkVl
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 7, 2026
Trump has made variations on this claim many times over the years, but there’s no evidence he worked at ground zero or provided hundreds of his own workers to the efforts there.
“Everyone who helped clear the rubble — and I was there, and I watched, and I helped a little bit,” he claimed in 2016.
In 2019, while speaking to first responders, he also recalled working at the scene.
“I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder,” he said. “But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.”
Trump did visit the site two days after the attack on Sept. 13, but it’s not clear what, if anything, he did.
In an article published a day later, Newsday described Trump at the scene with “every hair in place and impeccably dressed in a black suit, pressed white shirt and red tie, walking into the plaza with his cellular phone to his ear.”
The reporter even picked up what he was saying into his phone: “No, no. The building’s gone.”
In an interview that same day with a German TV station a few blocks away, Trump claimed he had a “couple of hundred people” either at the scene or on their way.
He’s also shared a meme claiming he was there “with hundreds of workers that he paid out of his own pocket.”
But that’s never been corroborated, and those who were on the scene have doubts.
Richard Alles, a retired New York City Fire Department deputy chief, told Snopes he never saw Trump or Trump employees on the scene.
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“This is the first I’m hearing of it,” Alles told the website in 2018. “There would have been no need for that. Between police, fire and the construction crews, we had it all covered.”
He said construction crews came from the trade unions, not Trump.
And that’s just one of the many unsubstantiated claims he’s made about 9/11 over the years.
He’s claimed he lost “hundreds” of friends that day, but never named any. Shortly after the towers fell, he bragged that he now owned the tallest building in lower Manhattan, which was both insensitive and untrue. He’s said he witnessed people jump from the Twin Towers from the windows in his apartment in Trump Tower, which was four miles away. And he has insisted ― falsely ― that he saw “thousands” of Muslims “cheering” the attacks in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Critics on X hit back at his latest claim that he brought workers to help at ground zero shortly after the attacks:
Trump’s an insane liar who can’t help but lie about everything even with his brain now scrambled eggs. https://t.co/BlJDlWFbLT
— Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) September 7, 2026
Delusionally insane lunacy that is made up from whole cloth. Unreal. https://t.co/RlQ9AOS6Vt
— Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) September 7, 2026
Total baldface lie. He’s a delusional fool in control of our nukes. https://t.co/dLejDoLLyz
— Jeffrey Evan Gold (@jeffgoldesq) September 7, 2026
This lie has been debunked before. There’s zero evidence Trump helped clear rubble at Ground Zero or took part in the recovery effort. https://t.co/qMNIhP3f4B
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 7, 2026
He absolutely the fuck did not “work long and hard.” There were over 100,000 volunteers that were part of the clean up effort — he was *never* one of them. And over 9,000 people have died since 2001 from 9/11 related cancers and illnesses — none of which he has ever offered to… https://t.co/JdCj8Oc78l
— Michelle Kinney (@MichelleKinney) September 7, 2026
What a monster to lie about this. https://t.co/giQsGemsKb
— WeThePeople🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@PrincessBravato) September 7, 2026
This is the most evil lie he’s told, I think. It’s one thing to be a liar. It’s quite another to lie about this on top of filing for lost rent and saying he donated to charities when he didn’t. Just evil. https://t.co/fwvJ3g0WKT
— Jessica Jewett (@JJ9828) September 8, 2026
This is a disgusting fucking lie. Donald trump did not help clear the rubble after 9/11. He did, however, brag that he had the tallest building in Manhattan right after 3000 Americans were murdered. Because he’s a piece of fucking shit. https://t.co/8E4GpP5MvZ https://t.co/QWJNtmDmdb
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— 😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) September 7, 2026
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