Where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Were on 9/11

Both candidates have strong ties to New York.

ByABC News
September 9, 2016, 10:44 AM

— -- Since the 9/11 attacks, there hasn't been a presidential nominee hailing from New York. But that changed this year, since the major party candidates have close ties to the state.

Donald Trump is a born-and-bred New Yorker who has extensive real estate interests in the Big Apple, which he still calls his home. Hillary Clinton represented New York in the Senate for eight years and has lived in a home in the state for 16 years.

Both candidates have talked about the attacks and their aftermath throughout this presidential campaign, but neither of them will be doing so publicly this weekend: Both have agreed not to campaign Sunday, on the 15th anniversary of the attacks.

A Clinton campaign aide confirmed today that she will be visiting ground zero on Sunday "to pay her respects."

While both have discussed their experiences in the aftermath of the acts of terrorism during various campaign stops, Clinton and Trump don't regularly talk about their whereabouts on that day.

Clinton was in D.C. at the time of the attack as one of New York's senators.

Members of Congress sang "God Bless America" on the evening of Sept. 11 on the steps of the Capitol, and immediately after that, Clinton was interviewed by ABC News' Jonathan Karl, who was working for CNN at the time.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both interviewed after the terror attacks on 9/11 in New York City.
YouTube

"I don't think we even have an inkling of the devastation," she said in the interview.

"I'm very proud of New York City, the mayor, the police, the fire — all the people working in the emergency front lines have done a superb job. But you know, New York is the global city. It is the symbol of American leadership, and these terrorists made a direct hit on who we are as a people, and New York has responded, and the national government has to stand behind us," she said.

Clinton toured the wreckage at ground zero with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is now an active Trump surrogate, on Sept. 12.

Jon Karl interviews Senator Hillary Clinton on the 9/11 terror attacks for CNN.
911archives/YouTube

There is footage of Trump doing a video interview with a German news station near ground zero a day later.

"I've never seen anything like it — the devastation, the human life that's been just wasted for no reason whatsoever. It is a terrible scene. It's a terrible sight. But New Yorkers are very strong and resilient, and they'll rebuild quickly," he said during the interview.

In this screen grab from a video reported from Stephan Bachenheimer on YouTube, Donald Trump gives an interview right after the terror attacks of 9/11, in New York City.
bachenheimer2011's channel/YouTube

On the day of the attacks, Trump has said, he was in his Manhattan apartment.

"I have a window in my apartment that specifically was aimed at the World Trade Center, because of the beauty of the whole downtown Manhattan. And I watched as people jumped, and I watched the second plane come in," he said during a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, in November 2015.

"Many people jumped, and I witnessed that. I watched that," he said.

Donald Trump speaks outside the New York Stock Exchange, a week after a terrorist attack brought down the World Trade Centers' twin towers, on Sept. 18, 2001, in New York City.
Todd Maisel/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Trump's claim that he saw television reports of people in New Jersey celebrating the attacks has been discredited.

He stood by that claim on the campaign trail last year.

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