Vice President Kamala Harris participates Monday morning with New York Mayor Eric Adams in the memorial ceremony honoring the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero.
It is tradition for the president to spend September 11 in one of three places where planes crashed and killed thousands of Americans in 2001.
Harris therefore intervenes to honor the Americans killed that day during the ceremony in New York.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden left Vietnam Monday morning to spend just two hours in Anchorage, Alaska, speaking with service members and first responders at a military base 4,300 miles from where terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center 22 years ago.
Biden’s plans Monday mark the first time a president has not attended one of the anniversary services at Ground Zero, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, or at least held a memorial service at the White House, which Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama each did during one year of his term.
Vice President Kamala Harris (R) attends the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero on Monday morning with New York City Mayor Eric Adams (L).
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is spending the day returning from Vietnam with a two-hour stopover in Alaska where he will meet with military personnel and first responders. This is the first time a president has spent 9/11 away from Washington, D.C. or the three crash sites.
Rudy Giuliani, who was New York’s Republican mayor at the time of the 2011 attacks and was later known as America’s mayor, was also at the ceremony at Ground Zero on Monday. However, Giuliani now finds himself embroiled in legal battles related to his efforts to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election.
Former New York City mayors Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg were seen at the service Monday morning. Giuliani, now embroiled in an election-related legal scandal, was mayor at the time of the attacks. His term ended just months after the attack and Bloomberg succeeded him.
The president’s stop in Alaska on Monday coincides with a refueling stop as Biden returns from a five-day trip to India and Vietnam.
Also on Monday, Biden held a bizarre news conference in Vietnam where he once again addressed some of the potential liabilities that worry some Democrats because of concerns about his age and performance.
It featured a series of strange moments, including when Biden called on reporters from a prepared list. His press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also interrupted the event, then returned briefly to speak to journalists while jazz music was played over a sound system.
He told a long story about a John Wayne movie in which he talked about cowboys and “Indians,” then returned to a story about the phrase “pony soldiers facing a lying dog” that he had used in the time and which he used before.
The White House released Biden’s 9/11 agenda Sunday evening, after the president spent two days in New Delhi, India, for the G20 leaders’ summit and then traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, while the diplomatic status of the United States was elevated with the Asian nation.
Starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday, the Biden White House installed a 9/11 memorial on the North Portico.
Biden will not commemorate the terrorist attacks before landing in Alaska – hours after the destruction of the Twin Towers 22 years ago.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shared only vague details about how Biden would mark the solemn anniversary once the Vietnam leg of the Asia trip was added.
Vice President Harris’ schedule was also vague, simply noting that she would spend the morning attending the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York.
The ceremony is held annually at Ground Zero to honor the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Harris landed in New York on Monday as she stands in for President Joe Biden to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero.
It is traditional for presidents to spend September 11 at one of the three crash sites – in New York, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – or hold a ceremony at the White House.
Presidential hopeful and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis arrived at Ground Zero Monday morning to mark the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is typically the refueling stop for Air Force One. Stopovers typically last about 90 minutes because the president’s plane is full of gasoline.
Jean-Pierre was asked last month if there had been any discussions about planning the Vietnamese leg of the trip before the president’s arrival in India, so as not to forget to celebrate the day in one of the three places where planes crashed.
“So look, we’ll have more on 9/11 in Alaska. As you men – as you just mentioned, I explained – you announced it,” she said.
“Look, the president wanted to make sure that as president he did something to commemorate 9/11. And that’s what you see. This is what you see the president doing,” Jean-Pierre continued. “We will definitely have more details to share. I just don’t have anything left besides that.
Despite Biden’s absence, Republican presidential candidates vying to take his place in the White House are traveling to New York to commemorate the attacks.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis arrived in the city early with his wife Casey DeSantis to pay their respects at Ground Zero.
Biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy is also traveling to New York to attend the 9/11 FDNY Pipes and Drums Tribute.
Law enforcement officers ring the bell as names are read during a memorial ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Retired police officer Sam Pulia places name flags along the 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero Monday morning.
