NEW YORK — As the United States approaches the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a television interview Donald Trump gave on the day of the tragedy is receiving renewed attention. Trump, then a prominent New York real estate developer, spoke by telephone with WWOR as the city struggled to understand the scale of the destruction in Lower Manhattan. During the interview, he discussed reports from people connected to his properties and described the extraordinary scenes unfolding around the World Trade Center. One portion of the conversation, however, focused on 40 Wall Street, the Lower Manhattan skyscraper that Trump owned at the time. Asked about the condition of the building following the attacks, Trump discussed its history before making a comment about its height. “Now it’s the tallest,” he said, referring to the building after the World Trade Center towers had collapsed. The brief remark has remained part of the historical record of Trump’s response to the attacks and has periodically resurfaced as interest in his 9/11 comments returns. The 25th anniversary has provided another occasion for journalists and historians to examine how prominent New Yorkers described the events as they unfolded in real time.
The statement about 40 Wall Street’s height was also inaccurate. The building, now known as The Trump Building, stands at approximately 927 feet, according to the Council on Vertical Urbanism’s Skyscraper Center. Nearby 70 Pine Street, meanwhile, is listed at approximately 952 feet. That means 40 Wall Street was not the tallest building in Lower Manhattan immediately after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. The history of 40 Wall Street does help explain why the subject of height may have been familiar to Trump. Completed in 1930, the building was once among the tallest structures in the world and had a prominent place in New York’s early skyscraper competition. By 2001, however, it was no longer the tallest building in Lower Manhattan. The difference between the two buildings is relatively small compared with the enormous scale of the World Trade Center complex, but the remark has attracted attention because of the extraordinary circumstances in which it was made. Looking back decades later, the comment offers a glimpse into the kinds of details being discussed during a chaotic day when reliable information was still emerging and much of New York was trying to determine what had happened.
The broader WWOR interview also provides a snapshot of the uncertainty surrounding Lower Manhattan that morning and afternoon. Trump described information he had received from people connected with 40 Wall Street and spoke about debris and the disappearance of the World Trade Center towers. Like many people speaking publicly during the early stages of the disaster, he was attempting to make sense of rapidly developing events while information remained incomplete. Some of his observations were based on reports from others rather than firsthand knowledge, making the interview a useful example of how information circulated during the crisis. In the years since the attacks, some of Trump’s later recollections about September 11 have also been examined by journalists and fact-checkers. Those accounts have included statements about what he saw from his residence and claims concerning his presence near Ground Zero after the attacks. Questions about the accuracy of those later recollections have contributed to continued interest in his original 2001 comments. The anniversary therefore provides an opportunity to distinguish between what was documented at the time and statements made many years afterward.
For survivors, first responders and families who lost relatives, however, the significance of September 11 extends far beyond individual comments made by public figures. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, and the consequences affected New York, the United States and communities around the world for decades. The attacks reshaped national security policy, international relations, emergency preparedness and public life, while survivors and first responders have continued to deal with long-term consequences. As the 25th anniversary approaches, commemorations are expected to focus primarily on those who died and on the experiences of the people who witnessed the attacks and their aftermath. Historical records, including contemporary television interviews, remain valuable because they preserve how events were understood at the time rather than only through later recollections. Trump’s WWOR appearance is one such record, offering a contemporaneous account from a well-known New York developer who was closely associated with the city’s real estate industry. Its resurfacing illustrates how remarks made during moments of crisis can remain subjects of public discussion long after the immediate events have passed.
The renewed interest in the interview ultimately reflects the continuing effort to document and understand September 11 from multiple perspectives. Trump’s comment about 40 Wall Street being the tallest building was incorrect, but the interview contains a broader record of the uncertainty and confusion surrounding New York on one of the most consequential days in modern American history. The building itself remains part of Lower Manhattan’s architectural history, and current data place 70 Pine Street above 40 Wall Street in height. As the 25th anniversary approaches, attention is likely to remain focused on the historical record, the victims and the lasting effects of the attacks. Revisiting contemporary accounts can help distinguish what was known in the immediate aftermath from claims or interpretations that emerged later. For readers encountering the old interview today, that distinction is particularly important: the historical value of the footage lies not only in what was said, but also in what it reveals about how information, uncertainty and public reactions unfolded during an unprecedented national tragedy.
