Trump Backed Out of 9/11 25th Anniversary Ceremony Because Organizers Wouldn’t Allow Him to Give a Speech: Report

Joseph KonigFri, August 28, 2026 at 7:30 PM UTC

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President Donald Trump in New York on Sept. 11, 2024. The North pool of the 9/11 Memorial on Sept. 11, 2011.Credit: Michael M. Santiago; David Handschuh-Pool/Getty -

President Donald Trump is reportedly skipping the New York City ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

The president will instead mark the anniversary at the Pentagon after officials at the New York memorial denied his request to make a speech, according to The New York Times

Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend this year’s N.Y.C. ceremony in Trump’s place

President Donald Trump is reportedly skipping the New York City ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks after officials denied his request to make a speech, according to The New York Times.

Organizers at the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum have barred politicians from speaking since 2012, according to the Times and an report from that time.

The White House did not acknowledge the Times’ reporting on the request to make a speech when reached for comment by PEOPLE on Friday, Aug. 28.

“As a proud New Yorker, President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “On the 25th anniversary of this tragic day, the President will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones, and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans.”

Instead of the Ground Zero ceremony, the longtime New Yorker will attend the annual commemoration at the Pentagon, as he did last year. During the 2024 election, Trump attended the New York ceremony alongside then-President Joe Biden and his campaign rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance at a New York ceremony marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Sept. 11, 2024.Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty

Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend this year’s ceremony in Manhattan, and administration officials will also be present at the Flight 93 Memorial outside Shanksville, Pa.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama are expected to attend the New York event at the site of the Twin Towers, as are former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former first lady Laura Bush, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to the Times.

Prior to the 25th anniversary of the deadliest attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor, Trump will be in Texas for a Republican convention ahead of November’s midterms. Then, on Sept. 12, he leaves for Ireland to attend the Irish Open at one of his golf courses.

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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend a ceremony at the Pentagon marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Sept. 11, 2025.Credit: Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty

Trump opened his remarks at the Pentagon in 2025 by memorializing Charlie Kirk, a longtime ally and political operative who was assassinated the day before during an event at a Utah college. He announced he planned to give Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.

“This morning, we recall the light of America’s best and bravest and the love that they showed in their final moments,” Trump said of the emergency workers and everyday Americans who saved lives during the 2001 attacks. “We will honor always our great heroes, and you are our heroes. There’s a group of people that don’t want to talk about our heroes, but we will always talk about our heroes.”

Later that evening, he attended the New York Yankees game in the Bronx.

The South Tower Memorial Pool at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York, on Oct. 23, 2022.Credit: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty

In 2012, Joe Daniels — the then-president of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum — told the AP that their decision to limit politicians’ remarks was intended to honor “the victims and their families in a way free of politics.”

Trump, who made his name and grew his businesses for decades in New York, was in the city when the Twin Towers were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. He called into a New Jersey television station that day and claimed that one of his buildings would now be the tallest in lower Manhattan.

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Trump’s building “actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually — before the World Trade Center — was the tallest,” the future president said at the time. “And then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.”

“It’s just gone and it’s just hard to believe,” he added of the World Trade Center. “The big thing that you really will have to do is never forget. You just can’t forget that something like this happened.”

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