9/11 memorial news: Biden lays wreath at Pentagon as Trump teases 2024 run
Family members of victims read the names of those who died during the attacks
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Your support makes all the difference.Joe Biden visited the Pentagon to attend a wreath laying ceremony with First Lady Jill Biden. The president spent the majority of Saturday attending memorials, first at Ground Zero in New York, then at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and finally at the Pentagon in Washington DC.
Mr Biden praised former President George W Bush’s speech during an unannounced stop at a Shanksville, Pennsylvania fire department. Mr Biden commended Mr Bush for encouraging American unity, calling it “a genuinely good speech, about who we are, we’re not.” He went on to say that “he core of who we are is not divided, it’s just this notion of, I don’t know how to explain it.”
Former President Donald Trump did not visit Ground Zero Saturday to attend the 20th anniversary ceremony commemorating the 9/11 terror attacks. He did release a video earlier in the day attacking Joe Biden for the Afghanistan troop withdrawal, and later visited an NYPD precinct where he visited with police officers. During his visit to the police precinct he hinted that he would run for president again in 2024.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President George W Bush addressed families at the United Airlines Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a memorial recognises passengers who brought down the plane after learning two others had been used to attack the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September, 2001.
An earlier ceremony at the site of the World Trade Center collapse in New York City recognised the victims who were killed, as the names of the nearly 3,000 victims were read aloud over several hours. Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton also attended the ceremony.
Donald Trump bragged that his building was the largest in New York after the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11
On 11 September 2001, Donald Trump called a radio station to discuss the unprecedented terror attack on his home, New York City. His call was not an expression of grief or empathy, but rather a chance to brag - incorrectly - that his building was the highest in the city in the wake of the Twin Towers collapsing.
The Independent’s Nathan Place revisited the call and its impact on Mr Trump’s eventual foray into politics. Read it below...
On 9/11 Trump bragged he now had tallest building in Manhattan
‘Forty Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan,’ Mr Trump said erroneously on 9/11. ‘Now it’s the tallest.’
How 9/11 changed the world
As Americans recognise the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, a group of reporters at The Independent have examined the event’s broader impact on not only the US and its domestic policies, but on the rest of the world. For a better understanding of how 9/11 reshaped the world, check out the story below...
How 9/11 changed the world
The Independent looks at how the world changed after the 9/11 attacks two decades ago
Watch the arrival of Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at Ground Zero to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11
Check out Independent TV to see the moment that Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton arrived at the 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City. First Lady Dr Jill Biden, Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also attended.
Watch: Presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton arrive at Ground Zero
Current US President Joe Biden arrived at Ground Zero in New York to pay his respects to all those who lost their lives in 9/11 and was joined by former Presidents Obama and Clinton on the day.The presidents were accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden as well as former First Ladies in Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton.Memorial ceremonies have been taking place around the country to mark the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on that day.
Watch live as President Biden lays a wreath at the Pennsylvania Flight 93 memorial
President Biden will lay a wreath at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The memorial remembers the passengers of Flight 93, who fought the 9/11 hijackers who took control of their plane. Watch the ceremony live.
Where were various leaders when they learned about the 9/11 terror attacks?
Many Americans remember exactly where they were when they first learned of the 9/11 terror attacks. But where were the people who actually had - or would one day have - the power to respond to the attacks? The Independent’s Nathan Place looks back at the stories of various world leaders - including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former President George W Bush - to see exactly what they were doing when they found out the Twin Towers had been attacked.
Read their stories below...
Where were world leaders when they heard about 9/11?
Twenty years later, here’s how some of the world’s most prominent leaders experienced that day
The US government is still protecting Saudi Arabia two decades after the 9/11 terror attack, according to the families of the victims
Family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 say they have fought for 20 years to see the US hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the deaths caused by the attack. While the US went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq after the attack, the majority of the hijackers were Saudi nationals that trained with Al-Qaeda. Osama bin-Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, was himself a Saudi citizen from his birth until 1994.
The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe spoke with family members who say the US has spent the last 20 years protecting Saudi Arabia rather than holding the nation accountable for the attack. Read their stories below...
9/11 families say US government still ‘helping protect Saudi Arabia’
‘Our own government subordinated the best interests of victims of terrorism and the American public’
Watch President Biden’s wreath ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial on Independent TV
Tune into Independent TV to watch Joe Biden’s wreath laying ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Former president George W Bush and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke during a ceremony remembering the passengers of the airplane who thwarted the hijacker’s plans at the cost of their own lives.
Watch: Watch live as President Biden lays a wreath at the Pennsylvania Flight 93 memorial
US President Joe Biden is attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania to pay his respects to all those who lost their lives in the attacks some 20 years ago. Biden has already been at the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York – where he was joined by former Presidents Obama and Clinton at the site of the Twin Towers that both collapsed during the attacks. George W Bush, who was president of the United States when the terrorist attacks occurred, spoke of being vigilant of enemies “from within” when making a speech earlier today.
Joe Biden lays a wreath at the Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania
Read the harrowing account of a man who was in the South Tower on 9/11
Steve Evans was in the South Tower on the day that Al-Qaeda-trained hijackers flew two planes into the Twin Towers in New York City. Mr Evans has shared the haunting tale of shock and survival with The Independent.
“The only moment when fear turned to terror for me was when the North Tower collapsed and the debris seemed to rush towards. I thought ‘it’s coming faster than I can run’...”
‘It’s coming faster than I can run’: I was there the day the Twin Towers came down
The moment fear turned to terror for me was when the North Tower collapsed and the debris seemed to rush towards me, writes Steve Evans
Actor Robert DeNiro says he hopes kids will learn from the 9/11 memorials
Actor Robert DeNiro appeared on CNN on Saturday to discuss the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
During his interview, he shared his hope that the commemorative services held today - and every year on September 11 - will help teach children how Americans felt at the time of the attack.
“No one wants that kind of thing to happen again. Kids have to be reminded in school, what happens historically can happen again very easily. It happens in another form, but it’s the same disease. That, to me, is the most important thing of 9/11: a reminder. Because 20 years is really not much time in the grand scheme of things,” he told CNN.
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