Good morning to you and your family. It is september 11th, 2016. Youre watching a special edition of fox friends. Today marks 15 years since the 9 11 attacks here in new york city, also in washington, d. C. , and shanksville, pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 americans died on that day. This morning we honor those who lost their lives and those who sacrificed their own lives to save so many others. Its hard to believe it was 15 years ago. Brian and i were in these chairs 15 years ago. Yeah, they were chairs then, not a couch. To be exact, 2,997. Its so good, for one thing, to see something downtown. For the longest time weve been doing the show on 9 11 and there was nothing there. Now theyve got one world trade, which was also known as the Freedom Tower. Which is what we were just looking at. For years, there was nothing there. There was a lot of red tape trying to figure out what to put down there. No one knows that story better than rick levinthal. Lets go to rick, who was able to carry live coverage as it unfolded. I guess you have so many thoughts going through your mind at this point. Well, this is the toughest day for anyone in new york who was here 15 years ago or lost loved ones in the attack. Its always a tough time to be in the city and to be certainly down at ground zero, but its an
important time as well. There will be thousands of people at the Memorial Plaza this morning to honor and remember those nearly 3,000 lives lost. Of course, well have First Responders there. Well have a host of dignitaries, including current and former mayors and current and former governors, and even Hillary Rodham clinton will be there as well. But we also have those victims family members. Theyll be the ones reading that list of names. That will be interrupted, as it always is, by six moments of silence. Those are the time when is that first plane hit the north tour, when the second plane hit the south tower. That was at 9 03. The first moment of silence at 8 36 a. M. Then at 10 03 when flight 93 went down in shanksville, pennsylvania. Then at 10 28, the last moment of silence, when the north tower fell to the ground. Earlier in the week last week, i had a chance to speak with chief of Department James oneil with the nypd. Hes been there for 33 years. Hes about to become the next commissioner of the Largest Police department in america. I spoke to him about his thoughts that day and lessons learned. Heres what he told me. We dont want this to happen again. Everybodys got to take part in it. It cant just be the military. It cant just be the police. It cant just be the fbi. Its got to be everybody in the United States. We have to Pay Attention to whats going on. You have to Pay Attention our surroundings. The president of the United States, president obama, will be at the white house this morning and then go to the pentagon for the wreath laying ceremony there. Former president george w. Bush, who was in office on 9 11, will be in church this morning in texas. Then hes going to the Dallas Cowboys home opener against the new york giants, where hell handle the coin flip with a couple members of the nypd who were down here. The nfl is having ceremonies across the country today to mark this 15year anniversary at every stadium today. Thats right. I know, rick. Well talk about it later, but you just wonder how many of these players are going to be insensitive enough to take a knee and not stand during the National Anthem. Hopefully none of them. Rick, thanks so much. Everyone will be watching for sure. Absolutely. We have former nypd commissioner sitting with us on couch this morning. 15 years ago, where were you . What was your story . When the first plane hit tower one, i was in my office. You were Police Commissioner. I was Police Commissioner. My staff came in and said that a plane just hit tower one. I got on the phone. I called the mayor. I went down to 7 world trade, tried to get in, which was the mayors emergency command post. We couldnt actually get on the street because people were coming down from tower one. Some of them were jumping. There were many. The coverage focused on a few. When we first got down there, there were many. One, two, three at a time. We backed up west broadway. I was actually waiting for the mayor to arrive when the second plane slammed through tower two above us. So when you see that big orange fireball, im standing in front of the building with probably 20 members of my staff and the deputy mayor was with me. Then the mayor got to us about three or four minutes after that plane hit. You went into an office building. It was a Merrill Lynch office. You were going to make a phone call to the Vice President of the United States. What happened . We had just left west street, where we met with the deputy fire commissioner, the chief of operations. We left them. My staff got us an office at barclay. The mayor wanted to ask for air support and additional support. They said the Vice President was coming to the phone. Within a few minutes, he hung up the phone. He looked at me and said, this
isnt good. I think they just said that the pentagon got hit, and theyre evacuating the whouts. As he said it, the building we were in started to shake. Like an earthquake. Like an earthquake. Like a Freight Train was coming through it. The door slammed open, and my chief of department at the time yelled and said its coming down. I didnt know if he meant our building or something else. How far away were you . What time was this about . 10 02 i think. Just after the pentagon got hit. So what did he mean . What was coming down . Tower two was imploding. How close was your location to tower two . A block and a half away. The debris came down, smothered our building, blew out all the windows. We were actually stuck in there for like 25 minutes trying to get out. I remember one of your comments. I really felt the same way. You wanted air cover. Youre thinking were at war. You didnt know if our airports were taken over and were going to get hit with plane after plane. When we were in the middle of the street, after the second plane hit and i realized we were under attack, i remember yelling at my staff, i said, close down the air space, we need air support. Later on i remember these guys coming back to me and said we were looking at you going, you know, is there a 1800 number. Who do we call for this . Yeah, who do you call for air cover if youre Police Commissioner. Today that stuff is all rectified. If Something Like that happens, therell be a response. Is there one story thats etched in more mind . I think most important for me that day was going back into Police Headquarters about 5 00 that height, 6 00, to meet with the members of my department that were missing, their family members. We lost 23 in the nypd. That evening i had to go into the auditorium and meet with the families and explain to them what we were doing. I tried to be as optimistic as possible. There was still hope, right . Well, there was hope, but if you saw the devastation and the damage and what was there, it was rough. Well, almost 3,000 people died that day. That day we didnt know and we thought the projected death toll could be up to 16,000. You know, up to 20,000. If you remember those first numbers, we were getting insane numbers because people were missing. They couldnt get the people on the phones. They couldnt communicate. It was terrible. But the other thing is, if it was an hour later, everyone would have been at work. Some people werent at work yet. Brian, this is one thing i want to stress to people. The men and women, the First Responders of this city, affected the greatest rescue mission and evacuation of any city in this country in world history. God forbid it was another hour later. It would have been far, far worse. Bernie, thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Now to some headlines with heather. Good morning to all of you. A couple headlines to bring you right now. We start out with a fox news alert. An intense manhunt under way in North Carolina for this man, after police say he shot a Police Officer who was trying to arrest him. Shelby officer tim bracken is in Critical Condition at a local hospital. He was serving a warrant when he was shot. Well bring you more as we get it. Happening overnight, a College Party takes a turn for the worse when a balcony gave way at Trinity College in connecticut. It caused a sort of domino effect, smashing down on to two porches beneath it. This picture from the hectic scene shows students taking a selfie with a friend in a stretcher. Oh, my. 27 people were taken to the hospital. Everyone, though, is expected to
be okay. Hillary clinton doing some major damage control after her insulting comments, insulting millions of americans. Listen. You could put half of trumps supporters into what i call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic. You name it. Well, clinton releasing this nonapology saying, quote, last night i was grossly generalistic, and that is never a good idea. I regret saying half. That was wrong. This morning the Clinton Campaign working to flip the story in the press. In a leaked memo, surrogates are being instructed how to deal with this fallout. Quote, is the press going to cover this story in the right context or are they going to hold hillary to a different standard again. Well, the nfl bracing for protests of the National Anthemtoday after several players refused to stand in recent weeks. Now the Seattle Seahawks are revealing their pregame plan. As a team, we have chosen to stand and interlock arms in unity. We honor those who have fought for the freedom we cherish. And we stand to ensure the riches of freedom and the security of justice for all people. Well, the nfl says it acknowledges any players right to protest. Now were hearing what the seahawks are going to do after a little bit of confusion. Those are your headlines. Stand and link arms together. Theyre going to alternate Black And White players, standing for unity, they said. Not for protest. Got it. Thanks. Thank you very much, heather. Well, its an image thats still seared in the maninds of many americans. George w. Bushs chief of staff delivering the news in that classroom. Were talking to andy card next as we remember the events 15 years ago this morning. Sends his love and compassion. God bless america thank you for your hard work. Thank you for making the nation proud, and may god bless america. Upgrade your phone system and learn how you could save at vonage. Com business
its an image thats still seared in many peoples minds 15 years later. President george w. Bushs chief of staff interrupting his trip to a Florida Elementary School as he was going to read to children to tell the president that our nation was under attack. He delivered that painful
message. He joins us now 15 years later. Wonderful to be with you. Thank you for fox giving so much attention to this. We promise never to forget. Indeed. I know youll never forget. That particular day, 15 years ago today, about right now, the day started off in sarasota. The president said of all things, it should be an easy day. And it was. You look at the calendar, it was supposed to be an easy day. It was a beautiful day. He was going to talk about education and leaving no child behind. He was getting ready to go for a run on a golf course in sarasota, florida. He was all nervous because he invited a reporter to run and found out he was an allamerican ncaa Cross Country runner. The last guy you want to run with that day. All right. Lets go to the school. As you went into the school, you already knew that an airplane had crashed into the first World Trade Center. However, everybody thought it was a prop job, thought it was a
terrible accident. Fast forward to that moment when you received word that it was a jet, it was a second jet, and what did you tell the president . I was standing at the door. The president had entered the classroom with the principal of the school and had been told that it appears a small twin engine prop plane crashed spoo one of the towers of the World Trade Center. When the director of the white house situation room at the time, a navy captain, came up to me and said, sir, it was not a small twin engine prop plane, it was a commercial jetliner. Then a nano second later, she said, oh, my gosh, another plane hit the other tower. I then thought of Osama Bin Laden. I knew the president had to know. I made my decision to tell the president , to do it very sus tin succinctly, not to start a discussion. When it was appropriate, thats when i walked up to him and said a second plane hit the second tower. America was under attack. And of course the president continued, didnt want to freak everybody out right then. With that Michael Moore documentary, he took some heat for it. When you read the accounts of how the secret Service Received word that angel was next. Angel is code name for air force one. I know when you pulled up to air force one to get out of town, the captain already had engine three and four running. That was unusual. And there was extra security because they wanted to make sure that somebody who is going to get on the plane, because there were extra people on the plane that day, didnt try to kill the president. Believe it or not, the pilot was anxious to get out of there because he wasnt sure if there was danger to air force one around that airport. He didnt want a missile showing up. And yes, the engines were running on the plane before we get out of the limousine. That was a nono. Usually you didnt turn the engines on until the president
was safely on the plane. I remember being struck by the sound of the engines. Yes, there was heightened security as people were loading on to air force one. They were scrutinizing everyones luggage and appropriately paranoid that day because we had a large contingent of people traveling, including some guests. Sure. Later on when they realized what was the going on, the president did give the order to, if need be, shoot down a commercial jetliner. And he told you were there when he made the call on the phone that for a moment was working right then, but he made an observation to you, given the fact he had a history as an Air National Guard pilot. When he hung up the phone after speaking with Vice President cheney and authorizing our fighter jet pilots to shoot down commercial jet liners, he leaned forward at the desk, and i was sitting opposite of him. He says, i would have been one of those pilots. I was a pilot in the airNational Guard, and i would have received that order. I cant imagine receiving that order. No kidding. 15 years later, youre here to tell the story. Thank you very much for getting up early on this sunday morning. Thank you. And thank you for the tribute you show all of those that were sacrificed that day and the wonderful heroes that showed up and made a difference. Absolutely. We will never forget. Andy, thank you. All right. Coming up on this sunday, after the deadly attacks, he became known as americas mayor for his incredible leadership in a time of crisis. Still ahead, well be joined by former mayor of new york city, Rudy Giuliani. Plus, as we honor the 15th anniversary of 9 11, brian got a special tour of the Tribute Center in Downtown Manhattan and discovered a powerful connection with his own guide. More on that story when we return. Remember here at ally, nothing stops us from doing right by our customers. Whos with me . Im in. Im in. Im in. Im in. One, two, wait, wait. Wait wheres tina . Doing the hand thing . Yep we are all in for our customers. Ally. Do it right. We are all in for our customers. Its scary when the lights go out. People get anxious and my office gets flooded with calls. So many things can go wrong. Its my worst nightmare. Every second that power is out, my citys at risk. Siemens digital grid manages and reroutes power, so service can be restored within seconds. Priority number one is keeping those lights on. It takes ingenuity to defeat the monsters that live in the dark. Good morning and welcome back. It is now 24 minutes after the hour. A couple quick headlines to bring you right now. Samsung grappling with the fallout of this exploding smartphone. The company now telling galaxy note 7 owners to immediately unplug those phones and turn them in. Right now users can get a refund or a different model. Those who would rather wait for an alternative could be waiting a while. The feds need to approve the new note 7 phones before they can be released. And shocking video shows a car plowing into a Convenience Store and knocking over that
worker inside. Its a large suv that comes flying through the plate glass, destroying the counter, burying the connecticut gas station clerk under the rubble. He was seriously hurt but is expected to be okay. The driver reportedly hit the gas instead of the brake and was not hurt. That person ended up getting a ticket for reckless driving. Those are your headlines. Heather, thank you very much. 2,977 people died 15 years ago today. Behind each one of them is a story. The 9 11 Tribute Center here in new york city is a project designed to bring each of those stori