A rule that has kept politics out of Ground Zero’s Sept. 11 ceremony for more than a decade reportedly helped send President Donald Trump’s anniversary plans in a different direction.
Trump is now expected to deliver remarks at the Pentagon on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks rather than travel to the World Trade Center memorial in Manhattan, according to multiple reports.
The native New Yorker had shown interest in appearing at Ground Zero, but people briefed on the planning told CNN that the president wanted to deliver a speech.
That presented a problem.
Politicians have not been permitted to speak during the Manhattan commemoration since 2012. The restriction is intended to keep the solemn ceremony nonpartisan and focused on victims and their families.
Instead, Trump is expected to appear at the Pentagon, where presidents may deliver formal remarks. Vice President JD Vance will attend the Ground Zero ceremony in his place.
A White House official told NewsNation that Vance is “still traveling to NYC” and that the Trump administration will be represented at all three sites attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly also pushed back against any suggestion that Trump’s absence from Manhattan would diminish his connection to the anniversary.
“As a proud New Yorker, President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events,” Kelly said.
The president will honor the victims, their families and the first responders who “put their lives on the line,” she added.
Trump attended the Pentagon observance last year with First Lady Melania Trump. During his remarks, he praised the courage Americans displayed in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania and declared that the country would “never yield.”
The official White House account of the ceremony said Trump also participated in a wreath-laying and renewed America’s promise never to forget the 2,977 lives lost.
Meanwhile, the 25th-anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero will remain centered on the families. Relatives will read aloud the names of 2,983 people killed in the 2001 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Six moments of silence will mark the attacks and collapse of the towers, the strike on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93. A seventh will honor those who later died from 9/11-related illnesses.
Trump’s decision also simplifies a packed travel schedule. The president is expected to leave for Ireland on Sept. 12 to attend the Irish Open at his golf course in Doonbeg.
The location may have changed, but the White House’s message has not: Trump intends to use the historic anniversary to remember the victims and honor the Americans who ran toward danger when the country was under attack.
