Trump had an unusual reaction to 9/11 just hours after the attacks
In TV interview, Trump seemed to focus less on the attack and more on the fact that one of his buildings was the tallest in the area
By Mark Abadi
On September 11, 2001, just hours after terrorists brought down the World Trade Center, Donald Trump seemed to brag that one of his buildings was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan.
Trump, then a real-estate developer who had only flirted with a political career, was speaking to a local TV station, WWOR, on the day of the attacks when he was asked about a skyscraper he owned near the fallen Twin Towers.
“Donald, you have one of the landmark buildings down in the Financial District, 40 Wall Street,” said Alan Marcus, a WWOR analyst. “Did you have any damage, or did you — what’s happened down there?”
Trump’s response seemed to focus less on the deadly attack than on the fact that the World Trade Center was no longer the tallest building in the area.
“Well, it was an amazing phone call,” Trump said. “I mean, 40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest, and then when they built the World Trade Center it became known as the second-tallest, and now it’s the tallest.”
He continued: “And I just spoke to my people, and they said it’s the most unbelievable sight, it’s probably seven or eight blocks away from the World Trade Center, and yet Wall Street is littered with two feet of stone and brick and mortar and steel.”