Watch Trump Falsely Suggest He Was Pulled from Ground Zero on 9/11

Read the original at Mother Jones ↗
Cite

Pykeren, S. V. (2026, September 9). Watch Trump Falsely Suggest He Was Pulled from Ground Zero on 9/11. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/trump-september-11-video-ground-zero/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Mother Jones · collected 2026-09-09 · by Sam Van Pykeren

Quick Summary

Donald Trump claimed during a memorial ceremony that he was pulled from Ground Zero by firefighters on 9/11, but this appears to be false. In reality, Trump said in a 2001 phone call with a local TV station that he watched an explosion from his Trump Tower window over four miles away from the Twin Towers. This is not the first time Trump has been involved in controversy related to 9/11, having previously made false claims about Muslims cheering the attacks and ignoring pleas to help first responders pass a law reauthorizing healthcare funding for them. The White House ceremony was held near the White House on Tuesday morning.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-09, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, New York City's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, faces controversy over his decision to attend memorial events despite calls from some victims' families and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for him to stay away. Mamdani, who lost an older brother in the attacks, insists on honoring those affected by reading out names at Ground Zero. Meanwhile, nearly 110,000 signatures have been collected through a petition urging Mamdani not to attend, citing concerns over his past associations and appointments that some see as conflicting with the solemnity of the event. Despite this opposition, Mamdani is moving forward with plans to release more than 170,000 pages of documents related to air quality around Ground Zero in the months following 9/11, aiming to provide transparency on what the city knew about toxic conditions and how they handled it.

Written for “9/11 Memorial Controversies” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 169 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 9/11 Memorial Controversies
Politics · 170 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 20% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Trump says firefighters near ground zero carried him to safety ‘right after’ 9/11 attacks same event · 100%
NBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 47 📰 publisher trust 95
“Both articles report on the same speech by Donald Trump at a memorial ceremony near the White House on Tuesday morning, where he recounts being carried to safety by firefighters near Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks.”
Ted Cruz ridiculed for defending Trump 9/11 claims same event · 100%
The Independent
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 19 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the same presidential speech where Trump recounts being hauled away from an unsafe structure by firefighters on 9/11, albeit with slight variations in wording.”
Trump's 9/11 statements come under scrutiny again same event · 100%
CBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 18% hedged 7 of 38 📰 publisher trust 74
“Both articles describe Trump recounting the same incident at a memorial ceremony near the White House on Tuesday morning (September 11, 2001), with slight variations in details.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
10
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
20%
2 of 10 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
95/100
Mother Jones's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
170
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-09 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Mother Jones · 360 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Sam Van Pykeren
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 This year, Trump will be the only living president not in attendance at the Ground Zero memorial ceremony in New York City for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, in part because the ceremony’s organizers wouldn’t let him deliver a speech, according to a New York Times report.
2026-09-09 · assertive framing · Watch Trump Falsely Suggest He Was Pulled from Ground Zero on 9/11
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

9/11 Jersey City Manhattan Muslims New York City

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Jersey City GPE · 1× Maggie Haberman PERSON · 1× Maggot PERSON · 1× Manhattan GPE · 1× Muslims NORP · 1× New York City GPE · 1× New York Times ORG · 1× Times ORG · 1×

Narrative

“We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys… they grabbed me under the arms, said, ‘got to get out of here!’ and they literally lifted me up… and they started running with me,” the president said in a rambling speech at a memorial ceremony near the White House on Tuesday morning.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-09
🔮 This year, Trump will be the only living president not in attendance at the Ground Zero memorial ceremony in New York City for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, in part because the ceremony’s organizers wouldn’t let him deliver a speech, according to a New York Times report.
2026-09-09 · Mother Jones
Watch Trump Falsely Suggest He Was Pulled from Ground Zero on 9/11 · assertive framing

Claims (10 extracted, 2 hedged)

Getting pulled from Ground Zero by firefighters, he seemed to claim on Tuesday. uncertain
he → pull → Tuesday
“We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys… they grabbed me under the arms, said, ‘got to get out of here!’ and they literally lifted me up… and they started running with me,” the president said in a rambling speech at a memorial ceremony near the White House on Tuesday morning. asserted
president → think → morning
But calling into a local television station a few hours after the attacks in 2001, the real estate developer recounted watching an explosion out of his Trump Tower window more than four miles from the Twin Towers. asserted
developer → call → Towers
True to form, he found a way to make the moment about himself, adding that his building, 40 Wall Street, was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan. asserted
building → find → Manhattan
The president has landed himself in several 9/11-related controversies in the last 25 years. asserted
president → land → years
During the 2016 presidential race, he ignored pleas to help 9/11 first responders pass the reauthorization of the law that set up a health care fund for the police, firefighters, and other rescue workers. asserted
that → ignore → police
In 2015, he falsely said “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in Jersey City cheered the destruction of the Twin Towers. asserted
thousands → say → Towers
And after the attacks, he “ignored the federal definition of a small business” to collect economic recovery aid meant to go to small businesses for his building at 40 Wall Street. asserted
he → ignore → Street
This year, Trump will be the only living president not in attendance at the Ground Zero memorial ceremony in New York City for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, in part because the ceremony’s organizers wouldn’t let him deliver a speech, according to a New York Times report. uncertain
him → live → report
Trump responded by saying the story was made up and calling Times reporter Maggie Haberman, one of the four reporters bylined on the story, “Maggot.” asserted
story → respond → story
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support
Terms · Privacy · beta v2.0.0
Articles to 24 Oct 2026