CNN
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President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance are commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks, showing to place political hostilities on the again burner for a second because the nation remembers the tragedy.
All 4 leaders are in New York on Wednesday for a commemoration occasion at Floor Zero in Manhattan. Trump and Harris, simply hours previous their first in-person assembly on the presidential debate Tuesday night time, shook arms forward of solemn commemorative ceremonies after Harris turned towards Trump and each prolonged a hand. Vance and Harris didn’t seem to work together.
Harris and Biden will then journey to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony on the Flight 93 memorial, in response to a White Home schedule. Later within the afternoon, they may each journey to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, for an additional wreath laying ceremony.
Trump will even journey individually to Shanksville in a while Wednesday, in response to a supply aware of his plans.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice chairman, will even attend an occasion to commemorate the anniversary. His workplace didn’t say the place the occasion will happen.
Whereas candidates in energetic campaigning in previous years have historically averted politics on the anniversary of the assaults, this marketing campaign cycle is notable for its toxicity and it stays to be seen how and whether or not every marketing campaign will interact in politics on Wednesday.
Almost 3,000 folks had been killed when Islamist terrorists hijacked 4 industrial airliners on September 11, 2001. Two planes had been crashed into every of the Twin Towers of the World Commerce Heart in Decrease Manhattan. One other airplane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in a discipline in rural Pennsylvania after passengers tried to thwart the hijacking.
Final yr, Biden marked the twenty second anniversary with a ceremony involving American service members in Alaska. Throughout that ceremony, the president falsely claimed he visited Floor Zero “the subsequent day” after the assaults. He really went 9 days later.
The president visited the Pentagon through the anniversary in 2022. In 2021, he and first girl Jill Biden additionally traveled to every of the three websites of the phobia assault. They had been joined by former President Barack Obama and former first girl Michelle Obama on the New York remembrance.
How candidates have navigated 9/11 previously
Wednesday’s occasions mark the sixth election cycle wherein presidential candidates have navigated the somber anniversary amid a heated marketing campaign season.
Over time, the day has supplied each a chance for unity and a window into deep divisions. For 3 cycles in a row, Trump – himself a local New Yorker who has repeated false claims in regards to the terror assault previously – has been the Republican nominee.
4 years in the past, then-candidate Biden and then-President Trump managed to keep away from one another whereas each attending memorial occasions at Floor Zero. Later, they traveled to Shanksville, but in addition managed to keep away from crossing paths.
As an alternative, Biden greeted then-Vice President Mike Pence, giving him a Covid-era elbow bump.
In 2016, each Trump and Hillary Clinton attended memorial occasions marking the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11 at Floor Zero. Clinton departed the occasion abruptly after falling unwell and showing unsteady, offering a gap for Trump to later query her well being. She was identified with pneumonia.
Then-President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney didn’t cross paths in 2012. As an alternative, Obama attended occasions on the websites of the phobia assaults whereas Romney campaigned in Nevada. Nonetheless, Romney held off criticizing his opponent: “There’s a time and a spot for that, however this present day shouldn’t be it,” he stated.
All of it’s a distant cry from 2008, when Obama and Sen. John McCain joined collectively to put a wreath at Floor Zero, placing apart their bitter marketing campaign for at the least just a few hours to commemorate the somber anniversary.
It is a creating story and will probably be up to date.
CNN’s Package Maher and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.