Poli Alert Politics & Civics
Related Articles
President Donald Trump is not planning to attend the ceremony at Ground Zero marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks after his team indicated he wanted to deliver remarks at an event where politicians have been barred from speaking for more than a decade.
Trump’s team conducted advance visits at the World Trade Center memorial and initially signaled to officials in New York and Washington that the president intended to attend, according to four people familiar with the planning.
But Trump’s interest in speaking at the Sept. 11 ceremony was conveyed to memorial planners in recent weeks, three of the people said. The request ran up against a policy the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has maintained since 2012 prohibiting politicians from delivering remarks at the site.
The restriction is intended to keep the annual commemoration nonpartisan and focused on the victims, their families and the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks.
Trump is now expected to commemorate the anniversary at the Pentagon, two people familiar with the plans said. The Pentagon was also attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the building, killing 184 people.
The decision is notable given Trump’s longstanding connection to New York and his repeated references to the attacks during his political career.
A native New Yorker, Trump frequently discussed Sept. 11 during his 2016 presidential campaign, often highlighting his ties to Manhattan and his experiences in the city following the attacks.
His absence from the Ground Zero ceremony will come as the nation prepares to mark a quarter-century since the attacks. The anniversary is expected to bring victims’ relatives, first responders and government officials to the memorial to honor those who died.
The Ground Zero ceremony will continue under its established format, with the focus remaining on the victims and their families rather than political speeches.
Trump’s expected appearance at the Pentagon would give him an opportunity to mark the anniversary at another site directly connected to the attacks while allowing the Ground Zero memorial to maintain its longstanding policy.
The split reflects the different roles the two ceremonies have come to play: one centered on a solemn remembrance at the site where the World Trade Center once stood, and the other at the headquarters of the Defense Department, which was also targeted that morning.
