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Visitors to the 93 National Flight Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, participate in a memorial service at sunset on Monday, September 10, 2018, as the country marks the 17th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. (AP Photo / Gene J. Puskar)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump marks 17 years of the worst terrorist attack on US soil by visiting the Pennsylvania field, which has become a 9/11 memorial.
Trump and his wife, Melania, took part in the dark memory of Shanksville on Tuesday. It is September 11, 2001 that air hijackers blew up a commercial airliner in California after 40 passengers and crew members learned what was happening and tried to regain control of the aircraft. Everyone on board was killed.
Nearly 3,000 people died on September 11 when other planes were airlifted into the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon during an attack planned by the head of Al-Qaeda. Qaeda, Osama bin Laden. Nearly ten years later, bin Laden was killed in May 2011 during a US military operation commanded by President Barack Obama.
Trump, a New York native who makes his first visit as president to the Shanksville site, will focus on the many lives lost that day.
"Certainly the focus will be on remembering this horrible day and remembering lost lives, and certainly honoring the people who were not only lost that day, but also risked their lives to help in this. process". Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Trump celebrated the solemn anniversary for the first time as president last year. He and the First Lady led a moment of silence at the White House, accompanied by aides and government officials at the exact time the hijackers stole the first of the two planes in the Twin Towers. of the World Trade Center.
The president also participated in the Pentagon's observation on September 11th. Vice President Mike Pence will represent the administration there on Tuesday.
Trump was in his penthouse Trump Tower – 6.5 km from the World Trade Center – during the 2001 attacks. He has a mixed history with the September 11 attacks, often using terrorist attacks to congratulate New Yorkers on the attacks. attack, but they also made baseless statements about what he did and saw that day. He also accused his Republican counterpart George W. Bush, who was president on September 11, of not keeping the Americans safe.
Trump, speaking of Muslims, said that "thousands of people were rejoicing" in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan as the towers collapsed. There is no evidence in the news archives of mass celebrations by Muslims.
Trump also said he lost "hundreds of friends" during the New York attack. He did not provide any names but mentioned knowing a Roman Catholic priest who died while he was chaplain of the city's fire department.
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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
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