Former US President Donald Trump has kicked off the new year by resurrecting one of his most controversial and repeatedly debunked claims: that he predicted the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 79-year-old made the assertion while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, following discussions about the US military's capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The In-Flight Claim and a Senator's Reaction
During the flight back to Washington D.C., as Senator Lindsey Graham praised the operation involving Maduro, Trump pivoted the conversation to his own counterterrorism foresight. He pointedly brought up Osama bin Laden and the World Trade Center tragedy. "You know, I wrote about Bin Laden one year before the attack on the World Trade Center. And I said, you have to go after bin Laden. It was in my book," Trump stated.
He further insisted that had authorities listened to him, they could have eliminated the Al-Qaeda leader and prevented the catastrophic event. "[If] they would have listened to me, they would have taken out bin Laden, and you wouldn‘t have had the World Trade Center tragedy," he claimed. When Trump asked Graham if he was aware of this prediction, the Senator replied with a diplomatic, "I learn something new every day."
A Pattern of Repeated Claims Versus Factual Record
This is not a new statement from Trump. He has made similar claims multiple times over the past decade, including on The Alex Jones Show in December 2015, in October 2019 after the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and again in October 2025 while addressing sailors for the US Navy's 250th birthday.
However, independent fact-checking organisations have consistently contradicted his narrative. The reference comes from his 2000 book, 'The America We Deserve,' co-written with ghostwriter Dave Shiflett during his presidential run for the Reform Party. FactCheck.org noted in a 2015 analysis that Trump "exaggerates his prescience on the 9/11 terrorist attacks."
The investigation revealed that bin Laden is mentioned only once in the entire book, where Trump describes him as a relatively minor figure within a broader list of security concerns, not as an imminent, catastrophic threat.
Context: From Venezuela to Visionary Self-Portrayal
The latest claim emerged amidst a conversation that began with the dramatic topic of capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Trump's quick shift to his 9/11 prediction appears to be part of a long-standing effort to paint himself as a foreign policy visionary. Despite the factual debunking, he has turned this particular assertion into what seems like an annual reminder of his supposed foresight.
This episode underscores a recurring theme where the former president blends current geopolitical events with personal narratives that have been challenged by verifiable records. The exchange on Air Force One highlights how swiftly he redirects discussions to bolster his own credentials, even when those credentials are contested by documented evidence.
