Ted Cruz defends Donald Trump after he claimed he was carried to safety on 9/11. But officials say there’s no record of it happening

On CNN, Sen. Ted Cruz addressed President Donald Trump’s comments about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Cruz tried to explain that the inconsistency in Trump’s claims stemmed from a “genuinely traumatic” day. He called Trump a New Yorker who experienced that morning in the city.

According to The Mirror, Trump has claimed he dispatched hundreds of his workers to Ground Zero. He has also claimed firefighters carried him away as the towers came down. City records and emergency officials have said they found no sign of a Trump-paid crew at the site.

“September 11th was 25 years ago. It was a horrific moment for our entire country. And you could doubt whatever you want about Donald Trump, but the man is a New Yorker. He loves New York. And I have every doubt that what he’s conveying there is what he experienced. And that was a traumatic experience,” Cruz said about the President’s retelling of that day’s events. 

Officials and fact-checkers report no record of Trump’s Ground Zero workforce claim

Trump spoke at the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s “Steel Across America” remembrance event. He said the gathering honored those killed and the first responders, days before the 25th anniversary. He said he “looked out my window,” saw what followed the strikes, and then brought a “whole crew” of his workers downtown.

He said the scene unfolded near One Liberty Plaza, formerly the U.S. Steel Building. Two firefighters, he said, feared the building could go down, took him under the arms, “literally lifted me up,” and “started running with me.” He has given similar accounts over the years.

CNN’s Daniel Dale and other fact-checkers have said they found no proof that Trump or a large group of his staff joined recovery work at Ground Zero. Video has shown Trump in the neighborhood days later, including footage from several blocks away from the site on Sept. 13, 2001.

Richard Alles, a former FDNY battalion chief who spent months at the site, earlier told PolitiFact he did not know of Trump working there. Trump Tower in Midtown sits about four miles from the World Trade Center. Fact-checkers have also challenged his past claim that he watched people jump from the towers from that building.

Gavin Newsom’s press office posted on X, “An absolutely disgusting thing to lie about.” David French of The New York Times wrote, “He’s one of the most brazen liars we’ve ever seen.” Kaitlan Collins pressed Cruz on the remarks, and some viewers called the senator a “kiss a–.”

Cruz described Sept. 11 as a wound that marked the country and, he said, hit New York residents hardest. Donald Trump will not attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero, and is expected to attend the commemoration of the horrific event at the Pentagon.