Fact Check: Did Trump bring hundreds of workers to help with the 9/11 recovery?
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he brought hundreds of construction workers to Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He repeated the claim in a recent interview ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Did Trump really bring workers to help with recovery? Let's fact-check it.
Claim: Trump said he brought hundreds of workers after the 9/11 attacks
Fact check: There's no proof Trump sent a large group of construction workers to Ground Zero. He pledged a $10K donation that auditors found no record of. There is no record of him attending even a single funeral for a 9/11 victim.https://t.co/8UXp08mfe8https://t.co/A6BrnlBSuR pic.twitter.com/qsUye7Vhcv
— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@NotHoodlum) September 7, 2026
In a Fox News interview with Trey Gowdy that aired September 6, Trump said he went to the World Trade Center site the day after the 9/11 attacks.
“I was building a building in New York, and I had a lot of construction workers,” Trump said. “And I went down there very shortly thereafter, the following day.” He also said, “We worked long and hard.”
At a Sept. 8 event honoring 9/11 emergency responders at the White House Ellipse, Trump made another claim about his experience near Ground Zero.
He said two firefighters carried him away after the nearby One Liberty Plaza, then known as the US Steel Building, began to creak.
Trump said, “We thought it was coming down on top of us,” and claimed the firefighters “grabbed me under the arm” and “literally lifted me up.” He added, “They lifted me up, and they started running with me.”
Trump has made similar claims about his role in the 9/11 recovery effort for years. He has said he spent significant time at Ground Zero and brought hundreds of workers to help.
In interviews near the site on September 13, 2001, Trump said, “I have a lot of men down here right now,” and claimed that more workers were on the way. Recently, Trump claimed, "Two firemen, big strong guys, they grabbed me under the arms -- 'got to get out of here!' -- and they literally lifted me up, and they started running with me."
Fact Check: False, no evidence to support Trump's claim
The claims are false. Reporters found no evidence that Trump brought hundreds of workers to Ground Zero. Trump World Tower was under development in Midtown Manhattan in 2001, about 5 miles from the World Trade Center.
Richard Alles, a New York Fire Department battalion chief at the time, told PolitiFact in 2019 that he had no knowledge of Trump being at Ground Zero or bringing 100 or more workers to help with the recovery.
“There would be a record of it,” Alles said. “Everybody worked under direct supervision of the police and fire department and the joint commander for emergency services.
No. There is no evidence that Trump was lifted out of the 9/11 rubble by firefighters.
— Mitch Richards (@MitchM64230) September 8, 2026
The clip circulating today is Trump telling a version of a story he has used before: two “big strong” firefighters grabbed him under the arms and ran him out of an area near Ground Zero after…
He added, "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.”
An X user debunked the claim: "No. There is no evidence that Trump was lifted out of the 9/11 rubble by firefighters."
