Trump to Miss 25th-Anniversary 9/11 Ceremony After Speech Request Is Rejected
Donald Trump will not attend New York’s ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11 after organizers declined to let him deliver remarks. Instead, he plans to commemorate the day at the Pentagon, where he will be permitted to speak.
President Trump is withdrawing from the official Ground Zero observance held 25 years after the September 11 attacks because the people overseeing the event refused his request for a speaking role.
His staff had initially said he intended to participate. Advance personnel even visited the Manhattan location while preparing for his expected appearance.
Those plans changed after the memorial’s organizers reminded the administration about a policy followed since 2012: politicians and elected officeholders do not speak during the Ground Zero service.
Why organizers created the rule
The restriction was introduced following years of partisan conflict connected to rebuilding the site. Eventually, victims’ relatives and ceremony organizers agreed that the yearly memorial should remain solemn, strictly nonpolitical, and focused entirely on the names of the 2,977 people killed that day.
Those names are read aloud by surviving family members.
Rather than joining the service in New York, Trump will observe the anniversary at the Pentagon, another location struck in the 2001 attacks. In contrast with the rules at Ground Zero, the Pentagon event permits official speeches.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend the New York ceremony as the administration’s representative. Other anticipated guests include former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
The White House responds
The White House did not explicitly confirm or reject reports concerning Trump’s request to speak. It did, however, release a statement stressing his personal association with 9/11.
Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Trump, as someone born and raised in New York, has previously discussed witnessing the attacks firsthand. She added that he would use this year’s anniversary to honor the people who died, the families they left behind, and the first responders who put their own lives at risk.
Trump’s most recent appearance at the Ground Zero commemoration came in 2024 while he was campaigning. On that occasion, he stood silently with Vance, then-President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, making no public remarks.
