The Freedom Tower

The New York Times says:
Records show Rudy Giuliani spent 29 hours at “Ground Zero” over three-month period: Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, has been criticized by some New York firefighters and police officers (some of whom also oppose his candidacy) for saying he had been to the ruins at the World Trade Center “as often, if not more” than many clean-up workers in the months after the 9/11 attacks. The Times writes today that:

“A complete record of Mr. Giuliani’s exposure to the site is not available for the chaotic six days after the attack, when he was a frequent visitor. But an exhaustively detailed account from his mayoral archive, revised after the events to account for last-minute changes on scheduled stops, does exist for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001. It shows he was there for a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts.

“Asked to reconcile what the records show with Mr. Giuliani’s public comments about the extent of his exposure to the site, his campaign provided a written statement from Joseph J. Lhota, a former deputy mayor. ‘Hundreds of thousands of people around the country and the world saw Rudy Giuliani’s steadfast and determined leadership firsthand at a time when we needed it most,’ the statement said,” in part.