The 9/11 attacks changed America, and the world, forever. On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, thousands will gather to pay tribute to the nearly 3000 lives lost. Video / National Geographic
Former US President Donald Trump has appeared on TV pushing the dubious claim that he was down at ground zero in Manhattan assisting first responders on September 11, 2001.
"I was down there right after the event," Trump told NewsMax "and I brought a big crew of people down and I helped, a lot of other people helped. Those first responders are very brave. And I'm telling you, we were hearing creaks; I've never forgotten it. There was — I think the United States Steel Building it was called at the time, and it's 50 stories tall, and we heard creaks. I said, 'That building's going to come down,' and two big firemen grabbed me and grabbed other people, and they just moved out of that area. Never came down, but I'd never heard a noise like that."
Trump also claimed that he had more than 100 "men down [there]" and "about 125 coming". However, fact-checkers have noted that there is no evidence that he personally assisted the recovery effort nor have any of these Trump employees ever corroborated his claim.
Trump, on Newsmax, claims the recall election in California is "probably rigged" (as if Democrats can't win elections there fair and square) pic.twitter.com/gPbSq0XHGN
Richard Alles, who served as the New York Fire Department battalion chief during the attacks, has said that he has no recollection of Trump being at ground zero.
Alles also cast doubt on Trump's claim of having sent a minimum of 100 men to help the recovery effort.
"I was in a supervisory role with the fire department at the time," he told PolitiFact. "I was there for several months — I have no knowledge of his being down there."
Donald Trump speaks during a news conference presenting a model of a proposed design for the rebuilding of the World Trade Centre in 2005. Photo / Getty Images
Alles added that "there would be a record" if Trump had sent dozens of workers down to assist first responders.
"Everybody worked under direct supervision of the police and fire department and the joint commander for emergency services," Mr Alles said. "Is there a chance he was ever down there by himself and I didn't know it? It's possible, but I know of no one who ever witnessed him there."
Trump's claims are just a few of the litany of falsehoods that the former president has made about 9/11 – claims which appear to disprove themselves when you look at all of them collectively.
As well as saying he was at ground zero, Trump has claimed he watched people jump from the Twin Towers while in his 5th Avenue apartment located roughly seven kilometres from the World Trade Centre.
He has also claimed he saw Muslims celebrating the attacks in Jersey City, which is located on the other side of New York's Hudson River — a lie that has been exhaustively researched and conclusively debunked.
Firefighters walk towards one of the towers at the World Trade Centre before it collapsed after a plane hit the building September 11, 2001 in New York City. Photo / Getty Images
He was also doing interviews with a local TV station, WWOR, on the day of the attacks when he was asked about a skyscraper he owned near the fallen Twin Towers.
"Donald, you have one of the landmark buildings down in the Financial District, 40 Wall Street," said WWOR's Alan Marcus. "Did you have any damage, or did you — what's happened down there?"
He then went on to erroneously and grotesquely claim that he now owned the tallest building in downtown Manhattan.
"I mean, 40 Wall Street actually was the second tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually before the World Trade Centre the tallest, and then when they built the World Trade Centre it became known as the second tallest, and now it's the tallest."
Osama Bin Laden. Photo / File
Trump has also claimed that he predicted the 9/11 attacks in his 2000 book The America We Deserve, however there is nothing in the book about a need to take out Osama bin Laden.
Two weeks ago he even suggested that bin Laden wasn't actually that bad.
"We took out the founder of ISIS, [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi, and then of course [Iranian military leader Qassem] Soleimani. Now just so you understand, Soleimani is bigger by many, many times than Osama bin Laden. The founder of ISIS is bigger by many, many times — al-Baghdadi — than Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden had one hit, and it was a bad one, in New York City, the World Trade Centre. But these other two guys were monsters. They were monsters. And I kept saying for years, why aren't they getting them? For years, I said it. I got them. The press doesn't talk about it. They don't talk about it because they don't want to talk about it."
While Trump keeps pushing false claims about his deep, personal connection to 9/11, he has no plans as of yet to formally commemorate the 20th anniversary.
Instead, he will be hosting and commentating on the heavyweight boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfor at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.
