After the Islamic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Donald Trump was “constantly” at Ground Zero “motivating” and “inspiring” first responders during their rescue efforts, confirmed Bernie Kerik — who served as New York City’s police commissioner at the time — in a Tuesday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with host Rebecca Mansour and special guest host John Hayward.
News media outlets such as CNN and Vox characterized Trump as mendacious following Trump’s recollection of 9/11 and its aftermath during public remarks on Monday regarding his signing into law an extension of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
“I was sitting there when he said that,” shared Kerik of Trump’s aforementioned remarks. “I didn’t think one thing of the remarks, because I know they’re true. … I must have seen [Donald Trump] down there — I don’t know — I want to say between five and ten times walking through Ground Zero, talking to the first responders — motivating, inspiring, whatever you want to call it — and he wasn’t the only one.”
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Kerik continued, “There’s a litany list of people, celebrities [and] sports figures … that came down to Ground Zero constantly. These are the people — the celebrities and sports figures — they went through there constantly trying to inspire the men and women that were down there.”
Politicians, added Kerik, “normally didn’t come down [to Ground Zero] unless there was a camera around.”
First responders worked 24/7 for six months at Ground Zero following the attacks, stated Kerik.
“Keep in mind, from the point of attack on, everybody was put on tours of twelve hours,” Kerik said. “You worked twelve hours on and twelve hours off. There were no days off. This was an around-the-clock operation that went on for six months. We needed all the support we could get. We needed inspiration and motivation for the people that were down there, and [Donald Trump] came down there constantly to show his support.”
Kerik went on, “I ran into [Donald Trump] numerous times. He thanked me. He thanked us for what we were doing, and then I heard his comments yesterday. I didn’t think a thing of it. I was sitting right in front of him, and then I saw an article last night written by somebody at CNN criticizing him for saying that he was there with an inference that he was not, which is a lie. He was there. … I was there at Ground Zero when [Donald Trump] would walk through there and thank everybody he came across.”
Trump joined “hundreds” of other famous persons in “wanting to motivate and inspire the people that were down there [and] wanting to thank them,” Kerik remarked. “He went down there to thank them. Every time he went down there, he thanked them.”
Trump is “very supportive of law enforcement,” Kerik said. “Nobody has to tell me how supportive [Donald Trump] is of the men and women in law enforcement and the military. I know. I’ve known the guy 25 years.”
Kerik added, “In fact, what the article didn’t tell you is that [Donald Trump] sent a ton of people down there that worked for him to assist in the volunteer efforts.”
“But this is just another way to attack the president, and I think it’s pretty sickening,” concluded Kerik. “It demonstrates how low these people will go to attack him.”
Mansour concurred, “I assumed it was just a New Yorker talking about the significance of what happened there, and that he remembers going down there.”
Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.
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