Trump falsely claimed that he was at ground zero with 9/ll first responders at a Monday White House event.
Video:
Trump suggests that he was a 9/11 First Responder pic.twitter.com/cFnVkV3wru
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 29, 2019
Trump said:
We’re also greatly moved to have with us families of our fallen heroes. Our nation owes each of you a profound debt that no words or deeds will ever repay. But we can and we will keep our nation’s promise to you.
In a few moments, I will sign the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. This law makes permanent the financial support for families who lost precious loved ones as a result of September 11th attacks. It also provides pensions for those who are suffering from cancer and other illnesses stemming from the toxic debris they were exposed to in the aftermath of the attacks. Many of those affected were firefighters, police officers, and other first responders. And I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.
Trump’s 9/11 Lies Have Grown Over The Years
Trump first claimed that he paid for hundreds of workers to clean up debris at ground zero. However, Snopes fact checked this claim and could find no evidence to support it:
Richard Alles, a retired deputy chief with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), who now serves as director of 9/11 community affairs for the law firm Barasch McGarry Salzman and Penson, told us that in all the hours, days and months he spent at Ground Zero as an FDNY battalion chief starting 20 minutes after the buildings collapsed, he never witnessed a large group of workers hired by Trump at the site helping with search and rescue. “This is the first I’m hearing of it,” Alles told us by phone. “There would have been no need for that. Between police, fire and the construction crews, we had it all covered.”
During the 2016 campaign, Trump claimed that he helped clear debris, and that false statement has morphed into Trump being a first responder on the ground after 9/11. Donald Trump isn’t a trained first responder. He is not a member of a fire or police department. Trump doesn’t have any construction crews, because he doesn’t run a construction company.
At the same event where Trump joked about the stage collapsing on 9/11 victims, the president also claimed that he is a first responder.
Just when you think Donald Trump can’t possibly go any lower, he finds a way to live down to the nation’s worst expectations.
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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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