In President Donald Trump’s telling at a White House event on Tuesday, two firefighters bodily lifted him to safety from a site near an unstable building after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. “And I’ll never forget,” Trump said, “we thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys – and I’m not the smallest guy in the world – they grabbed me under the arm, said, ‘Got to get out of here!'” Trump said.His comments, at an event honouring emergency personnel killed on 9/11, appeared to be a new instalment in a constantly evolving narrative that Trump has told over the years about his actions after the attacks. It’s a story that has long featured the New York property tycoon as the hero, with variations on him taking workers down to Ground Zero.But Trump’s version of events is one that US media say is disputed by rescue officials present at the time. The remarks also come amid a stir about Trump not being present as president in New York for the 25th anniversary of the attacks in which 2,977 people were killed. Instead of being at the site where Al-Qaeda hijackers rammed planes into the World Trade Center towers, Trump will pay his respects on Friday at the Pentagon in Washington, another target in the attacks.Trump and the White House have hotly denied reports that he chose the Pentagon because he was not allowed to deliver a speech at the 9/11 memorial. “This is more Corrupt News, I’ve been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks; it’s a ‘solemn ceremony!'” Trump said on his Truth Social network last week. Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s living predecessors – Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Republican George Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks – are all expected at “Ground Zero.” Later on Friday, Trump is due to fly to Ireland where he will attend the Irish Open golf tournament at his family’s golf course over the weekend.His absence from New York marks a contrast with Trump’s usual approach, which has been to put himself at the heart of the 9/11 story. Two days after the attacks, Trump told reporters that he had been to Ground Zero and had sent 100 workers to the site to help with recovery efforts. CNN and New York Times said people present at the site disputed his account.In the event on the White House Ellipse on Tuesday, where a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower was on display, Trump gave a fresh account of his actions that day. Trump said it had been a “beautiful morning” and that he had then seen a news alert on television, before looking out of his window “and I saw things that I never want to see again”.Trump clarified his recollections in a lengthy Truth Social Post Tuesday evening. “I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers,” Trump wrote, in a post accompanied by a video showing answering reporters’ questions. “I was there as soon as the Law allowed,” the US president added, as he lashed out at journalists and accused them of spreading “fake news”.(This is an AFP story)
