Trump’s Nephew Slams Uncle’s 9/11 Claims as Fabricated

On the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Trump family drama took another twist. Fred Trump III, the 63‑year‑old son of the late Fred Trump Jr., used his personal X account to call out what he called “a shocking lie” that his famous uncle has been repeating for years.

Donald Trump, now 80, has changed the details of his 9/11 narrative more than once. In 2016, during a campaign rally, he claimed firefighters whisked him away from the U.S. Steel Building (now One Liberty Plaza) after it began “creaking.” By 2021 the story had morphed into a dramatic rescue in which two “big, strong” firemen literally lifted the former real‑estate mogul and carried him out of the danger zone.

Most recently, the president told Fox News that he “went down” to Ground Zero and “worked long and hard” with a crew of construction workers he supposedly sent to help the recovery effort. He repeated the same anecdote at a White House “Steel Across America” event, describing the U.S. Steel Building as “creaking, really creaking,” and recalling how firemen grabbed him under the arm and ran with him.

Fred Trump III wasn’t having any of it. In a post that quickly gathered likes and retweets, he wrote: “I try not to comment personally about my uncle, but his claim that he brought a crew of workers to the site offends me enough that I need to speak out.” He added that the only “crew” Trump could have sent would have been office staff from Trump Tower—people who, in Fred’s view, lacked the physical ability to clear rubble.

To back up his rebuke, Fred pointed to his own family connections. The grandfather of a close friend was one of the original engineers on the U.S. Steel Building, and a partner’s brother inspected the structure after the attacks, concluding it was safe and not, as Trump described, “about to fall.”

The White House’s response was, unsurprisingly, vague. Press secretary Davis Ingle said the president was merely “relaying his experience of a city reeling after the horrific attacks” and dismissed criticism as “the failing legacy media” trying to undermine Trump.

While the family feud has now spilled into the public arena, the core question remains: Did Donald Trump ever send a construction crew to Ground Zero, or is this another chapter in his long‑standing habit of reshaping history to suit his narrative? For now, his nephew’s blunt assessment suggests the answer is the latter.