Speaking at a White House event on Tuesday honouring emergency personnel killed in the 9/11 attacks, Trump said he feared an unstable building was about to collapse on top of him when two firefighters intervened.
“And I'll never forget,” Trump said. “We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys - and I'm not the smallest guy in the world - they grabbed me under the arm, said, ‘Got to get out of here!’” Trump said.
His remarks appeared to add another version to an evolving narrative Trump has told over the years about his actions following the attacks. The account has long portrayed the New York property tycoon as a central figure in the recovery effort, with different versions involving him taking workers down to Ground Zero.
Trump's latest version of events is disputed, according to US media reports citing rescue officials who were present at the site at the time.
The comments also come amid controversy over Trump's decision not to be in New York as president for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, in which 2,977 people were killed. Instead of attending the commemoration at Ground Zero, where Al-Qaeda hijackers rammed planes into the World Trade Center towers, Trump is scheduled to pay his respects on Friday at the Pentagon in Washington, another target in the attacks.
Trump and the White House have strongly denied reports that he selected the Pentagon because he was not permitted to deliver a speech at the 9/11 memorial. Last week, Trump addressed the reports on his Truth Social network, writing: “This is more Corrupt News, I've been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks; it's a ‘solemn ceremony!”
Vice President JD Vance and Trump's living predecessors - Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Republican George Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks - are all expected at Ground Zero.
Later on Friday, Trump is due to fly to Ireland, where he will attend the Irish Open golf tournament at his family's golf course over the weekend.
Trump's absence from New York marks a contrast with his usual approach to the 9/11 story, in which he has repeatedly placed himself at the centre of accounts of the aftermath.
Two days after the attacks, Trump told reporters that he had been to Ground Zero and had sent 100 workers to the site to assist with recovery efforts. CNN and the New York Times reported that people present at the site disputed his account.
At Tuesday's event on the White House Ellipse, a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center's South Tower was displayed as Trump offered a fresh account of what he said he experienced that day.
Trump said it had been a “beautiful morning” before he saw a news alert on television. He then looked out of his window and said he “saw things that I never want to see again”.
Trump later clarified his recollections in a lengthy Truth Social post on Tuesday evening. “I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers,” Trump wrote in a post accompanied by a video showing him answering reporters' questions.
“I was there as soon as the Law allowed,” the US president added, as he lashed out at journalists and accused them of spreading “fake news”.
The conflicting accounts have placed fresh focus on Trump's recollections of his presence at Ground Zero and his decision to mark the 25th anniversary at the Pentagon rather than in New York.
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