Trump recalls watching 9/11 attacks from his Midtown apartment: ‘The world has just changed’
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump on Sunday, September 6, offered a detailed account of what he saw in New York on September 11, 2001, recalling the moment he watched the World Trade Center come under attack and saw the second plane strike the towers.
Speaking ahead of the 25th anniversary of the tragic attacks, Trump described realizing that the country and the world had entered a new era. The president also recalled visiting the site the following day, where he said construction workers worked to clear the massive amount of debris.
Trump recalls watching the attacks from Midtown
In an interview with Fox News, Trump claimed that he was watching a business program on television on the morning of the 9/11 attacks, when the coverage suddenly shifted to reports of a fire at the World Trade Center. He recalled that early reports suggested a boiler explosion, but said he immediately questioned that explanation because of where the fire appeared to be located.
“And I'll never forget it. I'm watching, and then all of a sudden… it was just immediately like, there's a fire in the World Trade Center, building one, two, one, and they said it must be a boiler that exploded. But I know all about boilers. Boilers are in the basement. They're not at the top, right? So it wasn't a boiler.”
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 said he was able to see the World Trade Center from his apartment in Midtown and watched as the events unfolded. He recalled initially wondering whether the first impact could have been a plane or even a missile.
The 80-year-old then described watching the second aircraft approach the second tower. “I saw the second plane hit, and you saw that come, and you're watching it,” Trump said. He recalled recognizing that the aircraft was following a flight path that was unusual for commercial planes traveling along the Hudson River.
Trump said the second impact made him realize the significance of what was happening. “I said, Wow. We are now in a different time,” he recalled. “The world has just changed.”
Trump credits New York for a quick recovery
Trump also said that he went to the area the following day after 9/11, as access to the site had been restricted on the day itself. He recalled seeing the destruction and the scale of the cleanup operation, describing the scene as “so terrible and so hopeless.” Trump said construction workers connected to a New York building project he was involved with worked at the site after the attacks.
Trump also praised the speed with which New York cleared the debris and rebuilt the World Trade Center site. He described the collapsed buildings as producing an enormous amount of debris and said the subsequent cleanup and construction efforts were completed faster than he believed many other cities could have managed.
“I don't think New York's ever gotten enough credit for that,” Trump said. “But I did say we have just entered a different phase of the world.”
