Donald Trump’s account of where he was on 9/11 is drawing a fierce response from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is accusing the president of lying about his whereabouts during the terrorist attacks.
Speaking Tuesday at an event honoring 9/11 emergency responders, Trump repeated a story about being at the U.S. Steel Building in New York City on September 11, 2001 — a location he said was roughly a quarter-mile from Ground Zero.
Trump claimed two firefighters picked him up outside the building and ran him away from the area. He also joked about the difficulty of moving him quickly because of his size.
But Newsom’s office isn’t buying the story.
The governor’s press office blasted Trump’s account on X, calling it “An absolutely disgusting thing to lie about.”
The dispute centers on what Trump himself said on the day of the attacks.
Trump called into WWOR-TV from his office at Trump Tower on September 11, 2001. During that interview, he said he had a window that looked directly at the World Trade Center and described seeing a huge explosion.
Trump Tower is uptown from the World Trade Center site, roughly four miles away, raising questions about how that account squares with his current recollection of being at the U.S. Steel Building.
Trump did visit the area in the days following the attacks and spoke to reporters about the response to the tragedy, but the material provided does not establish that he was at the U.S. Steel Building on September 11.
There is also another possibility: Trump could have been referring to September 12 rather than the day of the attacks. The area around the U.S. Steel Building was evacuated the following day amid concerns that the building could collapse. However, no news reports cited in the source corroborate that Trump was there.
The president has also previously claimed that he sent hundreds of workers to Ground Zero to assist with relief and recovery efforts the day after 9/11. That claim has not been corroborated, according to the source material.
With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching Friday, Trump’s latest recollection has put renewed attention on his version of events — and Newsom is making sure the contradiction gets noticed.
