Media: Trump to skip 9/11 ceremony, mark anniversary at Pentagon

President Donald Trump is not expected to attend the 25th-anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero in Manhattan after organisers declined to allow him to deliver a speech, The New York Times reports, citing people familiar with the plans.

The report said the president’s desire to speak at the September 11 memorial was communicated to organisers in recent weeks; however, politicians have been prohibited from delivering speeches at the site since 2012 as the National September 11 Memorial and Museum has sought to keep the ceremony nonpartisan and centred on commemorating the victims.

Trump, a native of New York who frequently invoked the September 11 attacks during his 2016 presidential campaign, is instead expected to mark the anniversary at the Pentagon, which was also attacked on September 11, 2001.

Vice President JD Vance is expected to represent the White House at the Manhattan ceremony.

Trump is scheduled to travel to the Pentagon after attending a midterm political convention in Texas on September 9 and 10. Officials have also discussed holding some form of tribute to the victims during the convention.

Logistical and security considerations are also believed to have influenced the decision to hold Trump’s commemoration in Washington. He is due to leave the following day for his golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, where the Irish Open will be held.

Departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York or Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey would cause considerably greater disruption to air and road traffic than leaving from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

Trump last attended the Ground Zero ceremony in 2024, when he stood alongside Vance, former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

None of the officials delivered formal remarks at that ceremony. Trump later visited a New York City fire station.

The 25th anniversary this year marks a quarter-century since the September 11 attacks, the deadliest assault on the United States since Pearl Harbour.

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists from the al-Qaeda group hijacked four passenger airliners. They flew two of the planes into the World Trade Centre towers in New York and another into the Pentagon near Washington. The fourth hijacked plane was also heading toward the capital but crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. A total of 2,977 people were killed in the attacks.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov