Discussion on 9/11 Building Collapse

Donald, you're, you're probably the best-known builder,

uh, particularly

of, of, of great buildings i-i-in the city.

There's a great deal of question about whether or not the damage

and, and the ultimate destruction of the

buildings was caused by the airplanes, by

architectural defect, or possibly by bombs or, or aftershocks.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

Well, it wasn't architectural defect.

You know, the World Trade Center was always known as a very,

very strong building.

Don't forget, that took a big bomb in the basement.

Now, the basement is the most vulnerable place

'cause that's your foundation, and

it withstood that. And I got to see that area about three or

four days after it took place because one of my structural engineers actually took

me for a tour, 'cause he did the building.

And I said, "I can't believe it." The building

was standing solid and half of

the columns were blown out. I mean, so this was an unbelievably

powerful building. Uh, if you know anything about structure,

it was one of the

first buildings that was built from the outside.

The steel-- The reason the World Trade Center had such

narrow windows is that in

between all the windows, you had the steel on the outside,

so you had the steel on

the outside of the building. That's why when I first looked,

and you had big, heavy

I-beams. When I first looked at it, I couldn't believe it because there was a

hole in the steel, and this is steel that was...

You remember the, the width of the windows of the World

Trade Center, folks.

I think you, you know, if you were ever up there, they

were quite narrow, and in

between was this heavy steel. I said, "How could a plane, even a plane, even a

seven sixty-seven or a seven forty-seven or whatever it might have

been, how could it possibly go through this

steel?" I happen to think that they

had not only a plane, but they had bombs

that exploded almost simultaneously,

'cause I just can't imagine anything being able to go through that wall.

Most buildings are built with the steel is on the inside around the elevator

shaft.

This one was built from the outside, which is the strongest structure you can

have,

and it was almost just like a, uh, like a can of soup.

You know, Donald, we were looking at pictures all morning long

of that plane coming

into, uh, building number two, and when you see that, uh,

approach the, the far side, and then all of a

sudden, within a matter, a millisecond, the explosion pops out the

other side.

Right. I just think that it was a plane with more than just fuel.

I think obviously they were very big planes.

They were going very rapidly, because I was also watching where the

plane seemed to be not only going fast, it seemed to be coming down

into the building, so it was getting the speed from going downhill,

so to speak.

Uh, it just seemed to me that to do that kind of destruction is

even more than a big plane, because you're talking about taking out

steel, the

heaviest caliber steel that was used on a building.

I mean, these buildings were rock solid and, uh, you know,

it's just an

amazing, it's an amazing thing. It's-- This country is

different today and, and it's going to be different than it

ever was for many years to come.

Very profound statement and very true.

Thank you for coming.

Looking forward to answering some of your questions.

This week, our nation paused to mark the fifth

anniversary

of the nine eleven attacks.

The information that the Central Intelligence Agency has obtained by

questioning

men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

has provided valuable information and has helped disrupt terrorist

plots, including strikes within the United

States.

For example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed described the

design of planned attacks on

buildings inside the U.S. and how operatives, uh, were directed to

carry them out.

That is valuable information

for those of us who have the responsibility to protect the

American people.

He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure

that the explosives went

off at a high poi-- a point that was high enough to prevent people

trapped above from escaping.

He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure

that the explosives went

off at a high poi-- a point that was high enough to prevent people

trapped above from escaping.

The explosives