RismadarVoice Reporters
August 28, 2026
US President Donald Trump is expected to skip the official ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and instead attend an event at the Pentagon.
According to reports, members of Trump’s team conducted advance visits to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan, where the main anniversary ceremony is scheduled to take place.
However, two people familiar with the planning told The New York Times that Trump had wanted to deliver remarks at the ceremony but was informed that politicians are not permitted to give speeches during the Ground Zero commemoration.
Since 2012, elected officials have not delivered speeches at the Ground Zero anniversary ceremony. The memorial and museum has said the policy is intended to keep the event focused on remembering the victims and their families rather than politics.
Trump is instead expected to commemorate the anniversary at the Pentagon, which was also attacked on September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend the New York ceremony on behalf of the administration.
Trump last attended the Ground Zero anniversary ceremony in 2024, when he appeared alongside then-President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Vance. No politicians delivered speeches during that ceremony.
The 25th anniversary ceremony is expected to include six moments of silence marking key moments during the attacks, including the strikes on the World Trade Centre towers, the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville.
Family members of victims will also read the names of their loved ones who died in the attacks.
Although the September 11 Memorial & Museum did not directly address Trump’s reported decision to attend the Pentagon ceremony, the institution said the president remains welcome at Ground Zero.
The museum said its ceremony has, for more than a decade, featured family members reading the names of those they lost, while elected officials from both political parties have attended as witnesses.
Trump’s planned schedule comes shortly after the Republican midterm political convention in Dallas, scheduled for September 9 and 10. He is then expected to travel to Ireland for a brief visit to Dublin before continuing to his golf course in Doonbeg for the Irish Open tournament.
