The White House was asked for evidence of Trump’s 9/11 rescue story, and it responded by attacking the media instead

The White House has responded to questions about President Donald Trump’s account of his own experience during the September 11 attacks by criticizing the media instead of producing supporting evidence. As detailed by Unilad, the exchange followed remarks the President made during a September 8 event on the White House Ellipse honoring volunteer firefighters and emergency responders ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary.

During that event, Trump recounted a story about being at the site of the attack, saying two firefighters grabbed him and lifted him off the ground because they feared the nearby One Liberty Plaza, then known as the U.S. Steel Building, was going to collapse. He told the crowd the building was creaking and that he and his construction crew were in the immediate vicinity at the time.

Several media outlets have since fact checked the claim, noting that available records place Trump at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan on September 11, 2001, rather than at the World Trade Center site. When the White House was asked for evidence or further details to support the account, officials reportedly did not provide any, and an unsigned email instead noted that Trump was a private citizen at the time whose activities were not all documented.

This story keeps shifting every time reporters press for proof

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle later pivoted the response toward a broader critique of the press rather than the specifics of the claim. “President Trump spent the morning paying tribute to the heroic first responders who laid down their lives in service to others in the September 11th attacks and honoring their incredible families,” Ingle said, adding that outlets pursuing the story were contributing to distrust in the media.

Trump addressed the matter himself on Truth Social the evening of September 8, insisting his account was accurate while adjusting the timeline. He said he was in Lower Manhattan not on the day of the collapse itself but shortly afterward, alongside a large group of construction workers, and referenced photos he said showed him there with his then head of security.

Retired New York Fire Department officials have previously said all work at the site following the attacks was strictly supervised by police and fire departments, and that a construction crew of the size Trump has described would likely have left a documented record, according to CNN. Public panic over the stability of One Liberty Plaza did occur in the days after the attacks, though no records have surfaced placing Trump inside the building or in a rescue situation.

The dispute lands amid a broader stretch of scrutiny for the administration, including a separate report that a Nebraska governor backing the immigration crackdown had family farms that reportedly hired undocumented workers, alongside continued fallout from Netanyahu’s warning about a Hamas attack that surfaced the same week.

As of publication, the White House has not released documentation beyond the President’s Truth Social post.