US President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday, during an event marking 25 years since the September 11 attacks, that two firefighters carried him to safety near the World Trade Center shortly after the attack because of fears that a nearby building was about to collapse.
"I’ll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big, strong guys," he said. "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. 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.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he went with a construction crew to the site of the attack to allegedly aid in rescue efforts, though people who took part in the rescue and recovery efforts have questioned that claim.
“I was building a big building in New York, and I took the whole crew down there right after this happened,” he said. “The United States Steel building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down. The truth is, it creaked a lot. It creaked. It still creaks, but it never came down."
Trump claims to have been rescued during 9/11 attacks
However, The New York Times reported that no evidence supported the president's account or confirmed the existence of the two firefighters he said rescued him from the area.
This is not the first time Trump's account of his activities in New York following the attacks has raised questions.
On Tuesday, he repeated the claim that he took a crew with him and added that two firefighters rescued him.
Before the speech on Tuesday, he repeated the claims to Fox News, alleging that he and the crew “worked long and hard,” he said, adding that “it was just so terrible and so hopeless. It was so hopeless, such a terrible thing.”