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WASHINGTON: In President Donald Trump\u2019s telling at a White House event on Tuesday, two firefighters bodily lifted him to safety from a site near an unstable building after the September 11, 2001 attacks.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d Trump said, \u201cwe thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys \u2014 and I\u2019m not the smallest guy in the world \u2014 they grabbed me under the arm, said, \u2018Got to get out of here!’\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n His comments, at an event honoring emergency personnel killed on 9\/11, appeared to be a new installment in a constantly evolving narrative that Trump has told over the years about his actions after the attacks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a story that has long featured the New York property tycoon as the hero, with variations on him taking workers down to Ground Zero.<\/p>\n But Trump\u2019s version of events is one that US media say is disputed by rescue officials present at the time.<\/p>\n The remarks also come amid a stir about Trump not being present as president in New York for the 25th anniversary of the attacks in which 2,977 people were killed.<\/p>\n Instead of being at the site where Al-Qaeda hijackers rammed planes into the World Trade Center towers, Trump will pay his respects on Friday at the Pentagon in Washington, another target in the attacks.<\/p>\n Trump and the White House have hotly denied reports that he chose the Pentagon because he was not allowed to deliver a speech at the 9\/11 memorial.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is more Corrupt News, I\u2019ve been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks, it\u2019s a \u2018solemn ceremony!’\u201d Trump said on his Truth Social network last week.<\/p>\n But it will still place the 80-year-old native New Yorker away from the main focus of the day\u2019s commemorative events.<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance and Trump\u2019s four living predecessors \u2014 Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Republican George W Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks \u2014 are all expected at \u201cGround Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n Later on Friday, Trump is due to fly to Ireland where he will attend the Irish Open golf tournament at his family\u2019s golf course over the weekend.<\/p>\n \u2018More famous than me\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n His absence from New York marks a contrast with Trump\u2019s usual approach, which has been to put himself at the heart of the 9\/11 story.<\/p>\n Two days after the attacks, Trump told reporters that he had been to Ground Zero and had sent 100 workers to the site to help recovery efforts. CNN and the New York Times said people present at the site disputed his account.<\/p>\n In the event on the White House Ellipse on Tuesday, where a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center\u2019s South Tower was on display, Trump gave a fresh account of his actions that day.<\/p>\n Trump said it had been a \u201cbeautiful morning\u201d and that he had then seen a news alert on television, before looking out of his window \u201cand I saw things that I never want to see again.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he was overseeing a building project and that he \u201ctook the whole crew down there right after this happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump clarified his recollections in a lengthy Truth Social Post Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cI was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers,\u201d Trump wrote, in a post accompanied by a video showing answering reporters\u2019 questions.<\/p>\n \u201cI was there as soon as the Law allowed,\u201d the US president added, as he lashed out at journalists and accused them of spreading \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n At Tuesday\u2019s event, Trump meanwhile presented the highest US civilian honor to the family of volunteer firefighter Welles Crowther, who was killed while helping lead people out of the South Tower.<\/p>\n Crowther, an equities trader, became known as the \u201cman in the red bandana\u201d after survivors told stories about a mysterious man wearing one over his nose and mouth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Man in the Red Bandana. He\u2019s become more famous than me, I don\u2019t like it,\u201d Trump said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n