U.S. leaders and families gather at New York and Pentagon for 9/11 25th-anniversary ceremonies
Family members, current officials and former presidents attended memorial services at the World Trade Center site and the Pentagon, where names of the victims were read and wreaths were laid.
Family members of the September 11 victims gathered at the memorial at the World Trade Center in New York for a ceremony that included a moment of silence and the reading of the names of those killed. Vice-president JD Vance and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani were present, along with all living former presidents—Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city after the attacks, was also in attendance despite earlier criticism of Mamdani’s participation.
At the Pentagon, a separate ceremony was held where the names of the 184 Department of Defense personnel who died on September 11 were read aloud. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs chair Dan Caine and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a wreath-laying and remarks. Caine said the day “is a story of loss and of great American courage, selfless service and those who have chosen to carry those memories forward.”
The events were marked by the presence of numerous public officials but no political speeches were permitted at the New York memorial. A relative of a victim used the platform to claim that “the deep state has hidden the truth about what happened” and urged the release of unredacted files implicating Saudi Arabia.