President Donald Trump’s nephew has called out his uncle’s lies about how he supposedly helped in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Trump, 80, has offered a shifting account of what he did and where exactly he was in the wake of the attack that claimed 2,977 victims. First, the former real estate guru said that he sent dozens of construction workers down to help out.
On the campaign trail in 2016, he said he was whisked to safety by firefighters after the U.S. Steel Building, now called One Liberty Plaza, began creaking days after the attacks. By 2021, that story had mutated, and the president had added vivid detail of being literally lifted from the scene.
On Sunday, he told Fox News that he “went down” to Ground Zero and “worked long and hard.” At a White House event on Tuesday, he repeated details of his claimed evacuation from the U.S. Steel Building.
This prompted a reaction from Fred Trump, 63, best known for his allegations against his uncle in his 2024 memoir, All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.
“There are two reports out today that relate to the tragedy of 9/11. I will comment on them today because doing so on the 25th anniversary this Friday would take away from the solemn memories,” he wrote on X on Tuesday evening.
“I try not to comment personally about my uncle, but his claim that he brought a crew of workers to help at the sight so offends me that I need to speak out [sic],” he added.
He pointed out the president’s comments on Fox News on Sunday and at the “Steel Across America” event at The Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Both times, he claimed that he had been in the midst of constructing a “big building” in New York City when the World Trade Center was hit.
“He was not,” Fred contested.
The president, who plans to skip a memorial event at Ground Zero on Friday, gave an interview to a German broadcaster two days after the towers went down. He spoke with the station’s journalists several blocks from the wreckage and said he had more than 100 construction workers helping out, with around 125 more on the way.
Fred added: “The only crew he claimed to bring to the site would have been secretarial and accounting employees from Trump Tower I knew many of them, and pretty sure they were not capable physically to help (if they could, I am sure they would try).”
At the White House event on Tuesday, Trump’s preamble to his firefighter story included details about how badly the U.S. Steel Building had been “creaking.”
The president said: “The United States Steel building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down. The truth is, it creaked a lot. It creaked. It still creaks, but it never came down. And I’ll never forget two firemen. 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.’ And they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I’m big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, ‘Fellas, I can run myself,’ but they were amazing.”
Trump was in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan at the time of the attacks. That building is two-and-a-half miles away from the World Trade Center and the U.S. Steel Building.
Fred disputed his uncle’s account. “Regarding the US Steel Building, ironically, the grandfather of a very close friend of mine was one of the original engineers- the bldg was built strong,” he said, adding, “Second, the brother of a partner of mine was an engineer that was immediately called to perform an inspection. While people were originally concerned, it was eventually cleared for occupancy- not creaking and ready to fall. I hope this brings some truth to that story. The second story will follow.”
When asked about Trump’s questionable story, the White House’s Davis Ingle said, “The President was relaying his experience of a city reeling immediately after and in the days and weeks after the horrific attacks – and the fact that the failing legacy media is using this to try to attack him is a disgrace and yet another reason why Americans’ trust in the media is at an all-time low,” he said.
The White House has been asked to comment on Fred Trump’s post.
