All the Times Trump Has Disparaged 9/11
(Trump speaks during a memorial service at the Pentagon for the 9/11 terrorist attacks September 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo by Brendan Smialowski, via Getty Images.)
Sept. 11, 2001
Trump called in to a local New York news program on Sept. 11 to brag about having the tallest building in New York City because the Twin Towers had fallen:
Oct. 2011
While appearing on the Howard Stern show, weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Donald Trump promised to donate $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund as part of a charity effort led by the show. But, the New York City Comptroller’s Office found no evidence that Donald Trump donated to 9/11 charities in the months after the attacks.
2005
Despite asbestos being classified as one of the most dangerous building materials and it being heavily restricted in the United States because of the health risks it poses, Trump has often spoken out in favor of it and even told Congress that the collapse of the two World Trade Center towers was due to the absence of asbestos.
Trump testified: “A lot of people say that if the World Trade Center had asbestos it wouldn’t have burned down, it wouldn’t have melted. OK?,” he said. “A lot of people in my industry think asbestos is the greatest fireproofing material ever made.” Trump went on to compare asbestos to a “heavyweight champion” compared to other building material, which he likened to a “light-weight from high school.”
In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, Donald Trump described asbestos as “100 percent safe, once applied,” despite the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting the contrary. Here’s what else Trump had to say about the deadly carcinogen:
“I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented. Millions of truckloads of this incredible fire-proofing material were taken to special ‘dump sites’ and asbestos was replaced by materials that were supposedly safe but couldn’t hold a candle to asbestos in limiting the ravages of fire.”
He repeated his baseless theory again on Twitter in 2012, saying that a misplaced fear of asbestos was responsible for World Trade Center’s collapse. Until recently, 95 percent of asbestos used in the United States came from Brazil, while the rest came from Russia. Brazil has now banned the mining and sale of the toxic substance, which has allowed Russia to fill the gap. If the US were to resume the use of asbestos in building materials, it would mean a windfall for Russian manufacturers. Russian asbestos company Uralasbest has even branded it’s product with an image of Trump smiling on its asbestos packaging.
(One of the world's few remaining asbestos companies, Uralasbest, believes President Trump is an ally for the industry and has his smiling face on their products.)
Fall 2015
In 2015, Trump claimed to have watched “thousands and thousands of people” during the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001, on rooftops in New Jersey “cheering as that building was coming down.” He went on to use this false claim to to sell his plan for a Muslim database all over the country during his Trump Campaign rallies.
When Trump was confronted with the fact that there is no video proof of that event he describes ever happening, he told news outlets: “It was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey. They were watching it: a heavy Arab population that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.”
There is no evidence that this has ever been more than a rumor, likely started by Trump himself. Weeks later introducing this story into his rally performances, Donald Trump began to call for all Muslim immigrants to be banned from entering the United States, a ban that he put into law once becoming president. The law was later struck down in the courts and was deemed to be unconstitutional.
Oct. 2015
Donald Trump makes a statement to Bloomberg TV implying that President George W. Bush was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack: “When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time…he was president, okay? Don’t blame him or don’t blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.”
Feb. 2016
During a 2016 debate against Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump accused her husband, President Bill Clinton for 9/11: “The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn’t kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him.” Trump then went on to blame President Bush as well: “And George Bush, by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn’t listen to the advice of his CIA.” When the audience booed, Trump claimed that he “lost hundreds of friends” in the attacks to appear sympathetic.
April 2016
While he was running for president, Trump told Time magazine, in an effort to inflate his image as a charitable businessman, that he got money from New York City for his efforts to help others out after the attacks. This was not true. Records from the Empire State Development Corp. show that Trump requested $150,000 for “rent loss,” “cleanup” and “repair” and not to recuperate money lost in helping people. The program was initiated to help businesses recover, not to reimburse people for charitable work.
Trump imagined the whole scenario and then used it for months to campaign as he bragged: "It was probably a reimbursement for the fact that I allowed people, for many months, to stay in the building (40 Wall St.), use the building and store things in the building," Trump told Time magazine in April. I was happy to do it, and to this day I am still being thanked for the many people I helped. The value of what I did was far greater than the money talked about, much of which was sent automatically to building owners in the area."
But, his comments don't match the forms Trump's company submitted to the New York state government requesting the money for his property, the Trump Building at 40 Wall St. Those documents actually proved that Trump's organization was one of a number of companies that received funds from a state program aimed at helping local businesses whose bottom lines were hurt by the terrorist attacks. Trump claimed his business took a hit on the form in order to take money that could have gone to help much smaller entities who were truly struggling after the 9/11 attacks.
April 18, 2016
During a campaign rally in Buffalo, New York, Trump bragged that he physically assisted with the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center: “Everyone who helped clear the rubble ― and I was there, and I watched, and I helped a little bit ― but I want to tell you: Those people were amazing,” he told supporters in Buffalo. “Clearing the rubble. Trying to find additional lives. You didn’t know what was going to come down on all of us ― and they handled it.”
Trump did appear in Lower Manhattan near Ground Zero on Sept. 13 for a German TV interview (see video below), but there has been no evidence Trump personally “helped clear the rubble.” He also claimed he helped pay for hundreds people helping with the recovery, but PolitiFact was unable to corroborate that claim.
Trump repeated these unsubstantiated claims on July 29, 2019, when he signed a bill ensuring a September 11 victims’ compensation fund would never run out of money, helping first responders dying of Ground Zero-related illnesses. The bill had been stalled for months in the Senate by Republicans seeking to place conditions on the funding until Jon Stewart and several first responders, one of which was dying of cancer, made appearances in Congress to spark public outrage.
Trump took credit for extending the fund through 2092 in a Rose Garden ceremony with more than 60 first responders, when he actually did nothing to help ensure the bill’s passage. Then he told those in attendance, who had actually been present at Ground Zero that he was there, too: “Many of those affected were firefighters, police officers and other first responders. And I was down there also. But I am not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.”
Aug. 2018
During an interview with Bloomberg in August of 2018, Trump referred to George W. Bush speaking through a bullhorn at ground zero and depicted the scene as an annoying obstacle preventing Trump’s own popularity among Republicans from being the highest ever. “The advantage we have is — I am actually a very popular president, which people don’t like to say, you know,” Trump said. “In fact, I guess the Republican poll came out, there’s one at 92 and one at 93 and one at 90, and they’re the highest numbers that have ever been, with the exception of a tiny period of time with a bullhorn. But that period lasted for about a week.”
Sept. 11, 2018
On the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks—Trump tweets a defense of himself in the Russia investigation nearly an hour before he recognizes a remembrance with an inappropriately punctuated tweet:
Then, as Trump arrives at a 9/11 commemorative ceremony near Somerset County, Pennsylvania — where 44 people died after passengers attempted to re-gain control of the United Flight 93 hijacked plane — the president pumps his fists in the air in a remarkably inappropriate and disrespectful way.
Fall 2019
Trump invited the Taliban to Camp David just three days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the Afghan war — the event did not take place due to the heavy backlash Trump received. On the Sept. 11 anniversary in 2019, he spent the day disrespecting the occasion by lashing out at critics on Twitter in a series of inappropriate posts, including a video that was edited to suggest Congresswoman Omar was dismissive of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which led to death threats for Omar.
Nov. 10, 2018
Donald Trump canceled his visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in commemoration of World War 1 and then blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Both statements were lies. Then Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump also referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
If Donald Trump carries such distain for American soldiers, who have sacrificed their lives for their country, imagine what he thinks about the first responders in New York City, who ran into a burning building that was collapsing with no regard for their own safety. Imagine what Donald Trump thinks about the thousands of brave men and women who are now sick and dying from cancer and other airborne related illnesses as a result of breathing in toxic air, made more toxic from the building materials for which he proudly advocates.
(Donald and Melania Trump participate in a moment of silence honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, at the Pentagon. Photo byEvan Vucci, via Associated Press.)
Imagine what Donald Trump thinks of civil servants, who risk their lives every day for minimal pay and questionable health benefits all to make sure others are safe and cared for. We have an ongoing list of the despicable things Trump has said when referencing 9/11 only as a novelty tale, riddled with unsubstantiated gossip and magnificent tales of heroism he never showed.
We can only imagine what he thinks or has said privately about the “suckers” and “losers” who ran into the Twin Towers without the promise of money, or power, or fame. These heroes were the best, most shining example of what Americans have to offer, and represent a level of service that the President of the United States will never comprehend.
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Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
A staggering list of disparagements and lies...It's depressing that some of these lies helped him to be elected, both because they are lies and because so many people believe them.
Every day, there is a new reason for me to despise the vile cretin.