President Trump signed a bill Monday to permanently fund the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which provides healthcare for first responders to the 9/11 terror attack. First responders have been lobbying for its passage for months. This is Trump speaking at the signing.
President Donald Trump: “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.”
According to a retired deputy chief with the New York Fire Department, he never saw Trump at ground zero. “He was a private citizen at the time. I don’t know what kind of role he could have possibly played,” Richard Alles told The New York Times. After the 9/11 attack, Trump boasted that his building—40 Wall Street—had become the tallest building in downtown Manhattan after the collapse of the World Trade Center. The claim was untrue.