Trump talks about 9/11 about himself, will not commemorate the 25th anniversary of Ground Zero

As told by President Donald Trump at a White House event on Tuesday, two firefighters carried him to safety from a site near an unstable building after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “And I’ll never forget,” Trump said, “we thought it was coming at us, and two firefighters, big, strong guys, and I’m not the smallest guy in the world, grabbed me under the arm and said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here!'” Trump said.His comments, at an event honoring first responders killed on 9/11, appeared to be a new installment in an ever-evolving narrative Trump has told over the years about his actions after the attacks. It’s a story that has long featured the New York real estate magnate as the hero, with variations in which he takes the workers to Ground Zero.But Trump’s version of events is one that US media says is disputed by rescue officials present at the time. The comments also come amid an uproar over Trump’s non-appearance as president in New York for the 25th anniversary of the attacks that killed 2,977 people. Instead of standing at the site where al Qaeda hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center towers, Trump will pay his respects Friday at the Pentagon in Washington, another target of the attacks.Trump and the White House have vehemently denied reports that he chose the Pentagon because he was not allowed to give a speech at the 9/11 memorial. “This is more corrupt news. I’ve been to New York many times over the years and no one ever talks – it’s a ‘solemn ceremony!'” Trump said on his Truth Social network last week. Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s living predecessors, Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Republican George Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, are expected to be at “Ground Zero.”Later on Friday, Trump will fly to Ireland, where he will attend the Irish Open golf tournament at his family’s golf course over the weekend.His absence from New York marks a contrast to Trump’s usual approach, which has been to place himself at the center of the 9/11 story. Two days after the attacks, Trump told reporters that he had been to Ground Zero and had sent 100 workers there to help with recovery efforts. CNN and the New York Times said people at the site disputed his account.At Tuesday’s event on the White House Ellipse, where a steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center was on display, Trump gave a new account of his actions that day. Trump said it had been a “beautiful morning” and that he had then seen a news alert on television, before looking out the window “and I saw things I never want to see again.”Trump clarified his recollections in a lengthy Truth Social Post on Tuesday night. “I was there, obviously not on the same day of the collapse, but shortly after, with a large group of construction workers,” Trump wrote, in a publication accompanied by a video in which he is shown answering questions from journalists. “I was there as soon as the law allowed it,” added the American president, while attacking journalists and accusing them of spreading “fake news.”(This is an AFP story)