Trump to mark 25 years since 9/11 at Pentagon as Ground Zero keeps politicians off the microphone
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK — President Donald Trump will mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon rather than Ground Zero in his native New York, a notable change from earlier planning for one of the most significant commemorations since the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Trump is expected to deliver remarks at the Pentagon on September 11, while Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration at the World Trade Center memorial in Manhattan, according to people briefed on the plans. The White House said Trump would use the anniversary to remember those killed, honor their families and pay tribute to first responders who risked their lives during the attacks.
Trump's team had initially discussed sending the president to New York and conducted advance planning for a Ground Zero appearance. But people familiar with the discussions told CNN and other news organizations that Trump wanted to deliver remarks, creating a conflict with the longstanding format of the Manhattan ceremony. Since 2012, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has kept elected officials from delivering speeches during the annual commemoration, an effort to preserve its nonpartisan character and keep victims and their relatives at the center of the event. Politicians can attend, but the ceremony's principal voices are family members reading the names of those killed.
The White House did not directly say that the no-speech rule caused Trump's change of venue. Spokesperson Anna Kelly instead emphasized Trump's personal connection to the attacks as a New Yorker and said the president would remember those killed and honor first responders. Reporting by CNN and The New York Times, however, says Trump's desire to speak was a factor in the decision. Travel logistics may also have contributed: Trump is scheduled to leave the following day for Doonbeg, Ireland, and departing from Joint Base Andrews near Washington would create fewer logistical disruptions than leaving from the New York metropolitan area.
The Pentagon provides Trump with both a legitimate 9/11 memorial setting and an opportunity to address the country. American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. on September 11, 2001, killing all 64 people aboard and 125 people inside the building. Trump commemorated the anniversary at the Pentagon last year and also visited the site during his first presidency. As president he has previously participated in commemorations at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, another of the three sites permanently associated with the attacks.
New York's ceremony will follow a deliberately different tradition. The 25th-anniversary observance is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., with relatives again reading the names of those killed in the 2001 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Moments of silence will mark the attacks on the towers and Pentagon, the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and the crash of Flight 93. The ceremony's refusal to provide elected officials with speaking roles dates back more than a decade and was designed to prevent partisan politics from overwhelming a day intended primarily for victims' families.
Trump's absence will be particularly noticeable because several former presidents and major political figures are expected in Manhattan. Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush have officially confirmed that they will participate in the Ground Zero ceremony, according to the Bush Presidential Center. Bush, who was president when the attacks occurred, will make his principal public reflections on the anniversary two days earlier in Dallas alongside former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Reports also say former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are expected in New York.
Trump's relationship with Ground Zero commemorations has varied over the years. He attended the Manhattan ceremony as the Republican presidential nominee in 2016 and returned in 2024 during that year's presidential campaign, standing alongside then-President Joe Biden, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, Vance and other officials. None of them delivered formal remarks, consistent with the memorial's rules. During the 20th anniversary in 2021, Trump did not attend the official Ground Zero ceremony but visited a New York Police Department precinct and a fire station later that day.
The 25th anniversary carries unusual historical weight because an entire generation of Americans has now reached adulthood with no personal memory of September 11, 2001. The attacks transformed U.S. national security, aviation, intelligence and foreign policy and triggered wars whose consequences extended across decades. That makes the anniversary both an act of remembrance and a moment when political leaders will inevitably confront questions about what remains of the unity, security doctrine and international order created in the aftermath of 9/11.
Yet the contrast between Washington and New York will be striking. At the Pentagon, the sitting president will have a microphone and deliver the administration's message about September 11. At Ground Zero, the most prominent political figures in attendance will remain silent while families speak the names of the dead. The difference is not accidental: it reflects two distinct traditions of commemoration, one built around presidential remarks and another deliberately structured to keep politicians from becoming the central voices of the day.
For Trump, that means the quarter-century anniversary will be observed from the site where 184 people were killed rather than from the city where he built his public identity and where the overwhelming majority of September 11 victims died. Vance will carry the administration's presence at Ground Zero, while Trump speaks from the Pentagon. Twenty-five years after the attacks, America's president and the families gathered in lower Manhattan will commemorate the same national tragedy from different stages — one designed for presidential words, the other intentionally reserved for the voices of those who lost someone.