What Did Donald Trump Say on 9/11? September 11 Transcripts, Quotes

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party's current frontrunner to be its 2024 nominee, drew widespread attention for his comments about September 11, 2001, long before he ever stepped foot in the Oval Office.

Monday commemorates the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil perpetrated by 19 men who hijacked four airplanes at the direction of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day and more continue to die in the years since due to 9/11-related illnesses.

Trump, the business magnate and real estate developer from New York, has made a number of notable comments about the attacks ranging from the day they occurred to throughout his time in the White House.

September 11, 2001

"40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest, and then when they built the World Trade Center it became known as the second-tallest, and now it's the tallest," Trump told local television station WWOR in a call hours after the attack.

"And I just spoke to my people, and they said it's the most unbelievable sight, it's probably seven or eight blocks away from the World Trade Center," Trump continued, "And yet Wall Street is littered with two feet of stone and brick and mortar and steel."

Trump later claimed $150,000 from the government to cover "rent loss" and "repairs," according to The Independent. That money had originally been set aside for small businesses in the area.

September 11, 2013

On the 12th anniversary, Trump tweeted, "I would like to extend my best wishes to all, even the haters and losers, on this special date, September 11th." He retweeted his post and later deleted the original comment, but never deleted the retweet.

November 2015

While on the campaign trail in November 2015, Trump made two separate comments about 9/11.

On November 16, he told campaign rally attendees that he predicted bin Laden would target the Twin Towers in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, according to The Washington Post, which pointed out that U.S. officials warned of an attack as early as 1999.

On November 21, in a statement that the Post later debunked following numerous interviews with law enforcement, Trump told rallygoers in Birmingham, Alabama, that he saw Muslims cheering the collapse of the former Twin Towers.

"Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down, and I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down," Trump said. "Thousands of people were cheering."

He later told ABC News that the cheers came from parts of New Jersey with "large Arab populations."

Trump doubled down on his remarks in a phone interview on NBC's Meet the Press days later, saying he was getting an "unbelievable response" from "hundreds" of people who purportedly witnessed the same thing.

"I saw it. So many people saw it," Trump told Meet the Press. "And, so, why would I take it back? I'm not going to take it back."

February 2016

In February 2016, Trump made another pair of statements about September 11. One blamed former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush for not killing Osama bin Laden when they had the chance.

He also said that he lost "hundreds of friends" on September 11, which would be akin to knowing and losing approximately 6 percent of that day's victims.

April 2016

On April 18, 2016, Trump told rallygoers that he "helped a little bit" to clear rubble at Ground Zero with other first responders. No proof of this has ever been offered or substantiated.

One day later at a rally in Buffalo, Trump referred to the fateful day as 7/11—mixing the day of tragedy with the convenience store, and he didn't correct himself.

April 2017

In April 2017, after he was elected president, Trump bragged about the ratings garnered by CBS' Face the Nation in comparison to the ratings networks pulled in covering September 11 live and in the days that followed the attacks.

September 2017

On the 16th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Trump tweeted: "May God Forever Bless the United States of America. #NeverForget911," along with a video honoring the fallen, on the first anniversary he commemorated as president.

September 2018

One year later, Trump praised former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a "true warrior" for his response on 9/11. Prior to attending a new memorial constructed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to honor victims aboard Flight 93, Trump criticized Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder.

July 2019

On July 29, 2019, just prior to signing an extension of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, Trump again claimed he "spent a lot of time" at Ground Zero with first responders following the attacks, according to Forbes.

September 2019

On September 11, 2019, Trump also said he visually witnessed the planes hit the towers from a nearby building. Trump's home was four miles away from Ground Zero, however, and he never previously mentioned watching the events unfold in real-time—in the 2001 TV interview or otherwise.

As of publication, Trump has not mentioned 9/11 on either Truth Social or X, formerly known as Twitter.