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Remembering 9/11 25 Years Later; Jules and Gedeon Naudet Speak About 9/11; Journalist Lukas Alpert is Interviewed about 9/11; Trump to Deliver Remarks at Pentagon. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 11, 2026 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[08:34:33]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some of the most haunting images on September 11th were captured by two brothers, and by coincidence, filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet. They had been following a New York fire department around for months, documenting the story of a rookie firefighter. They were following the fire department on a routine call when the tragedy struck, and they became accidental documentarians to this history.

[08:35:00]

Their cameras capturing what no one else did. They witnessed the plane hit the north tower. And we're going to show you that moment. But a warning, of course, it is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's Jules and Gedeon's camera. They were also the only cameramen who captured the moments inside the lobby of the north tower when the south tower collapsed.

Here's Jules describing that moment. Again, hard to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULES NAUDET, 9/11 DOCUMENTARIAN: When the south tower collapsed, we hear this loud rumbling coming from somewhere above us that transformed into a roar. Everyone stops and runs out. And as we're running, the ground is shaking. The difference between life and death goes inches and seconds for all of us. And I was lucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody all right?

NAUDET: Yes. I'm OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Twenty-five years later, I sat down with the brothers to talk about that day. The video and the moments that they recorded that captured the moment that changed the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: You became keepers of truth and documentarians of history. Does that feel like a weight on you? Does that feel like a responsibility? Twenty-five years after what you captured and witnessed, what does it feel like?

JULES NAUDET, 9/11 DOCUMENTARIAN: The responsibility, we felt it right away. I think as soon as we realized that, for example, that I had filmed in the tower the last moments of so many firefighters, I think over 70, I filmed their last images in a way. Immediately we knew we had to protect these images. We needed to -- want to show them to the world, but in the right way. You couldn't simply release it like this. Families had to be notified. And, you know, these people saved our lives. These people we wanted to honor them.

And so, there was a -- not a burden, but there was a weight to it. And I remember meeting a few years later one widow of a firefighter captain. And she said, you know, I'd like to thank you. I've -- you had sent me the tape and my husband, you have to understand, never used to wear his wedding ring. It was always when he was at the job, he would leave it in his -- in his locker and all that. And on that morning you film him as he's passing in front of the camera, waves his hand to someone, and he's wearing his wedding ring. And for her, she took it as a sign, a last I love you.

GEDEON NAUDET, 9/11 DOCUMENTARIAN: I personally felt bad that we were the only cameras filming, and that Jules were the only one with a camera inside the World Trade Center. In fact, they told -- the fire department told Jules that without his images, people would have accused them of everything and anything, saying, you know, why so many died? What did you do wrong? Jules' footage proved that they did everything right.

BOLDUAN: You mentioned that you found yourselves even censoring yourselves in real time. I know that, you know, there is what you filmed that's critically important. And also what you did not film in those choices, in those moments. Talk to me about the choice, how that felt then, how it feels now.

J. NAUDET: I remember as I entered the building, these two people who are literally burning, on fire and screaming. I had just had the time to look and the image was so distressing, so horrible, that I had no time to think, I just reverted to the education we had, to the values that our parents gave us, you know, respect for life, but also for death.

G. NAUDET: At one point, with some fellow firefighters, managed to dig (INAUDIBLE) and sees and recognizes that it's a woman. And he's sure that the woman was pregnant. There's no way you film that. The -- just discovering this information is already completely traumatic. Filming it, it's -- I don't know, it becomes in the realm of the, its taboo.

[08:40:01]

BOLDUAN: You've described that time became elastic as you were watching the plane approach in those moments. Does it still feel that way in memory?

J. NAUDET: Oh yes. There's few moments like this. The moment where the first plane crashes into the north tower, the moment -- that elasticity of time. And the two times where I'm -- the towers collapse. The first time is when the south tower collapsed. And then the north tower. You have that time is completely diluted. It's almost like you have a -- it's very strange. And then I think, you know, anyone who has lived a moment like that where you're kind of confronting with your own mortality or see something so outside of the scope of reality that it's -- it does something to your brain.

I still feel it that way. For me, the first plane, the collapses, they're not five, 12 seconds. They're minutes in my head, still.

BOLDUAN: You documented, right, the tragedy and the horror of that day. What's the single most heroic memory or best memory that you hold on to from that day?

G. NAUDET: I managed not to cry on that day. I managed not to cry on the day after. And for the three days after that.

We started to interview the firefighters just three to four days after 9/11. An interview very heartbreaking. But one of them, at one point, said, and then we escape and the building just collapsed behind us and we were rushing and running. And at one point we stopped. And that's when he looks at the two of us and he said, and we went back to look for you guys. And it was such a shock. And even now saying it, I started to cry behind the camera. And I just couldn't stop. I think I left the room. It -- that was a small thing that triggered, and the flood was on after that.

BOLDUAN: If you, today, could speak to those two brothers from that morning when they were heading out, what advice would you give them?

G. NAUDET: I would not give myself any advice if I managed to go back in time, because I truly believe I'm a better human being because of what happened. It's like because I've seen so much horror, but I've seen also so much, as Jules said, a thing that made me believe even more in human beings.

J. NAUDET: We had been pretty sheltered and suddenly that reality to discover life in its horror, but also in its beauty, gave us a strength, gave us a maturity, made us grow up and understanding more fully the world. And its complexities and its horrors, yes, but also of its -- of its good and its faith in human nature.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Jules and Gedeon Naudet. Really beautiful people. Really remarkable story. They're going to be spending -- they will be spending the day with

some of those same firefighters that they lived through and saved their lives on 9/11 today.

I want to take you now to the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, where some of the ceremony is going to be getting underway.

Let's listen in together.

CHOIR (singing): O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming. Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous flight. O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

[08:45:10]

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Of the brave.

(BELL RINGS)

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

(BAGPIPES PLAYING)

(READING OF THE NAMES BY UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE)

Gordon M. Aamoth, Jr.

Edelmiro Abad

Marie Rose Abad.

Andrew Anthony Abate.

Vincent Paul Abate.

Laurence Christopher Abel.

Alona Abraham.

William F. Abrahamson.

Richard Anthony Aceto.

[08:50:01]

Heinrich Bernhard Ackermann.

Paul Acquavida.

Christian Adams.

Donald LaRoy Adams. Patrick Adams.

Shannon Lewis Adams.

Stephen George Adams.

Ignatius Udo Adanga.

Christy A. Addamo.

Terence Edward Adderley, Jr.

Sophia B. Addo.

Lee Adler.

Daniel Thomas Afflitto.

Emmanuel Akwaski Afuakwah.

BOLDUAN: All right, so now what you are listening is the very beginning of the reading of the names of the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. And what we all watched just before that at 8:46 a.m. is the first moment of silence. That, of course, is the moment that American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower. The first plane striking the north tower and the first moment of silence. Sadly, many more moments of silence to come marking these tragic moments.

As we watch this, we also -- we also remember that, in years past on this solemn day, there have always been six moments of silence. And this year a seventh moment has been added honoring the thousands who died from 9/11-related illnesses since the attacks.

CNN just spoke to Brynn Gingras. Brynn just spoke to a 9/11 recovery worker whose husband was an NYPD first responder that day. Listen to what she says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONIA AGRON, 9/11 RECOVERY WORKER; HUSBAND WAS NYPD FIRST RESPONDER: My husband and I both have illnesses. He -- Jamie (ph) survived cancer. But between the both of us, we have about six different illnesses, autoimmune diseases, no cure. And we know how it's going to end. And the seventh bell is really going to hit us hard this year because one day it will be ringing for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Many, many people are living with illnesses connected to the toxic air and what happened in the aftermath of these horrible attacks.

My next guest is one of them, a journalist who spent several weeks reporting from Ground Zero here in lower Manhattan. He did not know, like so many, did not know at the time that the air he was breathing was so toxic. Years later, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. And here with me now is Lukas Alpert, the managing editor of "The

Daily Catch."

Lucas, thank you for being here. And thank you for your -- for sitting with me. It's nice to have someone here in those moments of silence. So, thank you for that.

We heard that recovery workers say -- telling my colleague Brynn that that seventh moment of silence is going to mean so much. That seventh bell is going to mean so much to her because she says some day that bell will be for me.

Talk to me about -- and for those who don't, you wrote a beautiful piece titled "The Other Victims of 9/11." Talk to me about your story.

LUKAS ALPERT, SPENT SEVERAL WEEKS REPORTING FROM GROUND ZERO: Well, I think this year, really, the notion that there is a very long tail to what has -- the impact of the attacks is really crystallizing in a lot of people's minds. The city just released all these documents on Monday or Tuesday, sorry, that showed, you know, that there was awareness, you know, really immediately afterwards that the air was terrible and not really safe to breathe. And, you know, that information wasn't really passed on in the clearest way to people who were returning to the area.

You know, I worked at Ground Zero for many weeks after the attack as a journalist. I was working for "The Associated Press." Obviously, young reporters starting out. I really didn't think about what was going on around me and the way I was just focusing on my job. And, 14 years later, I get diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I didn't -- really didn't make the connection that, you know, it had anything to do with 9/11. People get cancer.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ALPERT: But four years later, I got an email from a colleague who had worked with me down at Ground Zero, who I hadn't spoken to in like a decade. And he said, you know, I have thyroid cancer and I'm going to apply to the World Trade Center Health Program, and I'm looking for somebody who could write an affidavit saying, you know, I was there and would you do that? And I said, sure, fine, absolutely. I was sympathetic. I had thyroid cancer, too. I still did not --

BOLDUAN: Still not making the connection.

ALPERT: Right, did not make this connection. He writes back to me. He said, I don't think this is a coincidence. And then the -- kind of the light went off in my mind and, you know, I eventually applied for the program. And, you know, when I spoke to the law firm I was working with they said, you're very, very much eligible for this. And then I started to realize how big this program had become. And, you know, now the latest data, there's 154,700 people enrolled in the program with a variety of illnesses. The biggest being cancer.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

[08:55:05]

ALPERT: There are a lot of people with respiratory ailments, post- traumatic stress disorder, you know, a whole litany of ailments that stemmed largely from the air

BOLDUAN: And your story, I mean just so -- I was -- when I was reading it, you were 8,000 miles away from New York on 9/11.

ALPERT: That's right.

BOLDUAN: Right. So, you are a victim of 9/11.

ALPERT: I -- yes, ultimately I am.

BOLDUAN: It is a -- it is -- you know, that connection, the, as you've said, the long tail, but just how far it reached. It does seem, this year more than other years, it's really coming into focus.

ALPERT: Well, I think one of the things, you know, in my story, and for a lot of people, is that we're sort of incidental victims. You know, there were obviously the people that we always associate with this are the firefighters, the first responders, the guys who were on the pile digging for survivors.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ALPERT: And people have been aware of that, I think, for some time about how sick they have all become. But there's a growing and now increasingly large component of it, which is people who just lived around here, who had jobs, just that office jobs around here, went to school around here. You know, it would -- it goes down to, you know, volunteers from a Baptist church who were handing out water bottles on the west side highway. Like, they're included as well. It's --

BOLDUAN: And I do wonder kind of how -- just how you feel about it. And you wrote about it, I think it might have been your concluding -- your concluding paragraph, which I -- you call it, I feel that contradiction, right? You said, "yes, the government never formally apologized, but they gave us this program, which has provided a great service to me and thousands of others. I don't dwell on the choices made in those chaotic days after the attack, when all we just wanted was normalcy," you said, "but I still think those of us who survived the initial attack are the lucky ones, even if we've gotten sick. Most of us are still here."

Do you -- are your feelings -- yes, talk to me about that juxtaposition, that contradiction almost.

ALPERT: Well, obviously, you know, we're here and they're reading all these names right behind us right now. And you can't forget that those were not the lucky ones. I'm here. I'm sitting here with you right now.

BOLDUAN: Right.

ALPERT: It's 25 years later. Like, yes, I got sick. I'm doing fine now. Hopefully that will remain that way for, you know, forever or for as long as I'm here.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

ALPERT: But, you know, and there are a lot of people in this program who were far sicker than I got. People have a lot of mixed feelings about, you know, the government's culpability.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ALPERT: I don't dwell on it. I mean, I'm a journalist. You kind of just -- you become, you know, compartmentalize to a large degree in the work that I do. But, I, you know, I just think that, you know, I remember how chaotic things were in that day. And I think that really also probably applied to people making these decisions. The information was unclear. It was, you know, they were getting readings of all different kinds from all different areas about what the -- what was in the air. There was really no yardstick by which to say what's acceptable in this environment. There had never been anything like this before.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ALPERT: And I'm mindful of that. You know, I do wish that different choices have been made and I'm not sitting here with you today, you know, talking about this and that there weren't all these people in this program. But the program exists and it helps. It's helped me. It's helped a lot of people. It's, you know, and I think with the increased monitoring, people are getting diseases caught early. And, you know, being able to be treated.

BOLDUAN: I'm just thankful you are here today. And thankful and grateful -- and happy to hear that you're doing well and feeling well. Thanks so much.

ALPERT: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: It's great to meet you.

Lukas Alpert with us today.

BOLDUAN: We continue to watch the ceremonies here in the 9/11 memorial here in lower Manhattan, but also ceremonies are underway at the Pentagon. They're going to be getting -- they will be beginning very soon. President Trump is in attendance. He's going to be delivering remarks there. And our Brian Ttodd is standing by for us there as well.

Brian, bring us up to speed. What have you been seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, I have to speak to you in somewhat of a hushed tone because it's a very quiet time of reflection here. A military musical ensemble has been playing several songs, including the national anthem, "Amazing Grace." Right now we're hearing music from a harp, and people are just sitting and standing and just being very, very quiet and reverential. The ceremony, as you mentioned, is going to start in just a few

minutes. President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine, will be on the stage fairly soon. They have not taken the stage yet. They will speak after the remarks -- excuse me, after the moment of silence and after the names are read.

Now, just after the ceremony starts here in just a couple of minutes, the names will be read, all 184 people who died here. After that, there will be a prayer and then a moment of silence at 9:37 a.m., which is the very moment that American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

[09:00:06]

And after that, President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and General Caine will deliver their remarks.