All four living former U.S. presidents have confirmed their attendance at a ceremony in New York next week to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which Donald Trump has decided to skip for a typically petty reason.
Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the 9/11 attacks, will all attend the event at the World Trade Center site marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks, The New York Times reported.
Trump was initially also set to appear at the event at Ground Zero. However, the Times previously reported that the 80-year-old president bailed after being told he would not be allowed to deliver one of his rambling speeches at what is supposed to be a somber occasion to remember the nearly 3,000 people who were killed that day.
Instead, Trump will mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks at the Pentagon, which was also targeted by a plane hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists.
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has barred politicians from making speeches at the annual Ground Zero commemoration since 2012, except for delivering poems or other texts, such as the Gettysburg Address, in order to keep the day’s focus on the victims and their families.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend the memorial on behalf of the Trump administration, but will not speak.
Trump has furiously rejected the suggestion that he bailed on the 9/11 event in New York City after being told that he could not give a speech. In a vile Truth Social post, Trump attacked New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who was one of four bylines on the original report about his upcoming absence, and claimed that she had “made up a story.”
“Maggot Hagerman, the Fake Reporter from The Failing New York Times, an unattractive person both inside and out, and who knows less about me than most reporters on the beat,” Trump wrote on Aug. 28. “She’s been falsely writing about me for years—She’s a stalker, and should be forced to turn over any and all money that she’s made through her fake reporting on me.”
A source told the Times that Trump’s travel plans before and after the 9/11 event meant it made more sense to fly out from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after appearing at the Pentagon, rather than cause major logistical issues by flying from a commercial airport in New York or New Jersey.
Trump is headlining a midterm convention in Dallas before the memorial and is scheduled to depart on Sept. 12 for his golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, where the Irish Open will be held.
Biden’s appearance at the 9/11 memorial will be a rare public outing for the 83-year-old as he is being treated for an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 election rival who was a New York senator at the time of the 9/11 attacks, will also attend the memorial event.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
