Story highlights

• Clinton — at the time New York’s junior senator — described the “sickening experience” of 9/11
• Trump’s rhetoric, Clinton said, has only fueled the motivations driving ISIS

“We saw this curtain of black smoke that was stretched across the island,” Clinton recalled. “Occasionally it would be broken by a firefighter coming out. I remember one image so indelibly, dragging his ax, and it was as close to depiction of hell that I’ve ever personally seen.”
Those were the things Clinton saw as she approached Ground Zero on September 12, 2001 — the day after the country’s worst terrorist attacks brought down New York City’s World Trade Center and left thousands dead.
In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Clinton — at the time New York’s junior senator — described the “sickening experience” of 9/11 and how she coped with the national tragedy by getting right to work.

When news broke of the first plane ripping through the north tower of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, Clinton had just left her house in Washington, D.C., and was on her way to the Senate. By the time she reached Capitol Hill, evacuations were already underway.
“So I gathered up my senior staff, we were just looking at each other with such total pain and confusion,” Clinton said.
Soon after, they learned about a second plane hitting the south tower. “I got to a TV as quickly as possible to begin monitoring it. It was just sickening experience, Chris.”
The next day, Clinton and her fellow New York senator, Chuck Schumer, got on one of the few planes that were allowed to fly that day and landed at LaGuardia Airport. After being taken to the city by helicopter, she and others began to walk toward where the twin towers had collapsed.
After seeing the devastation, Clinton said, she felt a heavy burden of the task ahead.
“There weren’t that many survivors; the ones that did survive were grievously injured. The loss of life was overwhelming,” she told Cuomo. “But it was also my job and the job of other officials to get our city and state and country what we needed.”
In the days to come, Clinton, along with Schumer and others, would personally lobby President George W. Bush for funds to help the city rebuild. There were problems that lingered for New York residents well-past the immediate carnage of September 11, including health problems caused by the debris and toxic air that filled downtown, and victims who survived the attacks but were left with long-term injuries.
“I would meet these shattered lives of people where they were broken, but I saw so many of them strengthen and show such resilience. So I felt privileged,” Clinton said. “It gave me an insight into the human spirit — and I like to think the spirit of New York and America — that I wish every American could understand.”
On Sunday, Clinton will visit the Ground Zero memorial to pay her respects and observe the annual moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. ET — the moment the first plane hit the north tower.

Trump and foreign policy

The CNN interview took place in New York City on Friday, shortly before Clinton told donors that half of Trump’s supporters fall into “the basket of deplorables”