President Donald Trump plans to bypass a ceremony in New York to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks after being told he could not make a speech.
Trump, 80, had his team perform advance site visits to Manhattan’s National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the memorial space where the Twin Towers once stood, two people with knowledge of the events told The New York Times.
However, since 2012, politicians have not been allowed to deliver speeches at anniversary events at the site known as Ground Zero, with the museum explaining that the rule was intended to ensure that attendees could focus on “honoring the victims and their families in a way free of politics.”
The Times claimed Trump’s interest in speaking at Ground Zero on Sept. 11 had been conveyed to memorial planners in recent weeks, according to three sources.
According to two sources, the president will now mark the solemn anniversary at the Pentagon, which was also attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. A total of 2,996 people were killed during the attacks that day—including the 19 hijackers.
Trump will head to the Pentagon following a midterm political convention in Dallas. The Times said administration officials may possibly pay tribute to 9/11 victims during the Republican Party’s convention, which runs on Sept. 9 and 10.
The president is due to fly out to his golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, on Sept. 12 for the Irish Open tournament, which runs between Sept. 10 and 13.
The publication notes that flying out from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland would be quicker than leaving from New York or New Jersey, where air and motor traffic is more congested.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend the Manhattan memorial on behalf of the Trump administration.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum for comment.
Trump’s last attendance at a Ground Zero ceremony was in 2024, alongside Vance, President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris. No officials made formal speeches at the ceremony, in keeping with the museum’s policy.
The 25th anniversary ceremony will include six moments of silence to mark when both World Trade Center towers were struck, and the times of the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Family members will read the names of the loved ones they lost in the tragedy.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum did not address Trump’s plans in a statement, but told the New York Post the president is “always welcome” to attend the ceremony.
“For more than a decade, the ceremony at Ground Zero has featured only family members solemnly reading the names of their loved ones. Elected officials of both parties have borne witness to this solemn occasion over the years, and we have been honored that every living President, including President Trump, has attended. Of course, President Trump is always welcome,” the statement read.
Weeks after launching his war with Iran, Trump said in March he had “predicted” that “Osama Bin Laden would knock out the World Trade Center,” a year before the attacks.
“I said, ‘You better get him. He’s a bad guy.’ I watched him be interviewed one time, and I said, ‘That’s a bad guy. You’d better get him. One year before exactly. I wrote it in a book,” Trump insisted. “You can even check, about a year before the World Trade Center came down.”
During his first term in office, Trump had made the same claim about having warned about the threat posed by the al Qaeda founder.
But according to a CNN fact check, Trump’s 2000 book The America We Deserve only mentioned Bin Laden once and did not call for him to be killed or warn of any attack.
