“Ground zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day.”

To mark the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President Joe Biden recalled visiting the site where the World Trade Center towers fell.

During a Sept. 11 speech at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, Biden said: “I join you on this solemn day to renew our sacred vow: Never forget. Never forget. We never forget. Each of us, each of those precious lives stolen too soon when evil attacked. Ground zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day, and looking at the building. And I felt like I was looking through the gates of hell, it looked so devastating because of the way — from where you could stand.”

However, Biden was not at ground zero “the next day,” which would have been Sept. 12, 2001. On that date, Biden — who was then the U.S. senator from Delaware — was one of many senators who made remarks about the attacks from the Senate chamber in Washington, D.C. 

In a statement to PolitiFact, the White House clarified that Biden was at ground zero nine days after the attacks, as part of a bipartisan Senate delegation.

On Sept. 20, 2001, CNN reported that “one of the largest groups of U.S. senators ever to travel together outside Washington arrived in New York on Thursday to tour the World Trade Center wreckage and console the victims’ families. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has repeatedly urged lawmakers to visit the site in order to understand the scope of the disaster, and what help will be needed for recovery.”

An Associated Press file photo shows Biden on Sept. 20 with then-Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., at the site of the fallen towers. 

One day after 9/11, the site was still chaotic. Thousands of construction workers, first responders and volunteers were searching for survivors, removing debris from the massive pile of rubble. Workers removed crushed cars and debris to clear a path for fire and rescue teams. On Sept. 12, Genelle Guzman, the last of 18 people saved from the rubble, was recovered alive.

Then-President George W. Bush didn’t even make his famous “bullhorn” speech to rescue and recovery workers until Sept. 14. In that speech, Bush, standing on rubble, said, “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” 

Biden did not, as he said in Alaska, visit ground zero “the next day.” We rate the claim False.

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