Former Presidents Attend 9/11 Memorial in New York as Trump Marks Anniversary at Pentagon

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images All four living former U.S. presidents joined together to attend the memorial event for the Sept.

11 terrorist attacks in New York, which Donald Trump decided to skip.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W.

Bush were all present at the World Trade Center memorial site on Friday to commemorate the 2,977 people who were killed in the attacks 25 years ago.

Trump was initially also set to appear at Ground Zero .

However, the 80-year-old president will instead observe the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by attending a ceremony at the Pentagon, which was also targeted by a plane hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists on Sept.

11, 2001.

The New York Times previously reported that Trump decided to bail on the New York ceremony after he was told he could not deliver one of his rambling speeches on the somber occasion.

Trump has denied the allegation and has repeatedly lashed out at The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, one of four reporters who broke the story that the president would not attend the ceremony after being informed he could not give a speech.

Trump called it a “made-up story” and described Haberman as an “unattractive person both inside and out.” Trump also attended a 9/11 memorial event at the Pentagon last year.

The last time Trump attended a 9/11 ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City was in 2024, when he and JD Vance were running for the White House.

Vice President Vance was present at the New York ceremony on Friday morning, as was Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 election rival, who was a New York senator at the time of the 9/11 attacks.

Other attendees included New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who, as mayor, led the city’s response to the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald had an office in the World Trade Center and lost hundreds of its New York staff in the 9/11 terror attacks, was also in attendance.