U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at an observance ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, in 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
All living former U.S. presidents visited Ground Zero in New York City for the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. President Donald Trump, however, instead choosing to spend the anniversary at the Pentagon, where he could make a speech.
CNN's senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes, explained that presidents no longer speak at Ground Zero ceremonies.
"I bring this up because it is rare to hear from a president during one of these events commemorating 9/11, because back in 2012, we were down at Ground Zero, they stopped having any politicians deliver speeches. And there had been some previous CNN reporting that part of the reason President Trump wanted to go to the Pentagon over Ground Zero was that he wanted to give remarks."
She noted that Trump brought it up during an interview with a radio show pre-taped on Thursday but aired Friday morning. He spoke about it at-length during the interview.
"It was clearly something that bothered him, saying that he 'didn't even want to speak,' that this isn't something that was true," said Holmes. "Despite the reports that he wanted to give a speech and that he was not allowed to. He also went on to say, 'I'm not going to force myself to speak. By the way, I think that they would have changed the rules for me if I had actually wanted to speak at Ground Zero again.'"
Trump has never delivered a speech at the main Ground Zero 9/11 remembrance ceremony in New York. In 2017 and 2019, he delivered a speech at the Pentagon and spoke at the Flight 93 crash site memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Trump said on Tuesday, “The Failing New York Magazine wrote a story that I wasn’t down at the World Trade Center after the Tragedy of September 11th, because nobody saw me there."
“On another September 11th front, Maggot Hagerman continues to say that I did not go to the New York World Trade Center event, but the Pentagon instead, because they wouldn’t let me speak in New York," Trump added, speaking of New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
“Maggot knows that this is a lie! I have been to the New York solemn ceremony numerous times, and nobody speaks. It is a stated fact that, ‘Politicians and public officials are not permitted to deliver speeches or remarks at the official September 11 anniversary remembrance ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York,'" Trump said.
Indeed, Holmes made it clear that no president has spoken in New York since the new rule.
"Again, the big question is the tone, as always with President Trump, the tone that he's going to strike, what he's going to reflect upon on this 25th anniversary as he actually goes up there to talk to members of the Pentagon, military officials, people who were there the day that the plane hit, as well as just the general public," she continued.
