‘The images are forever seared into our minds’: Trump remembers the 2,977 ‘precious souls brutally taken from us on 9/11’ – Melania makes rare statement saying ‘Never forget’
Donald Trump marked the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a video posted to his website Truth Social, while Melania Trump made a rare statement, vowing to “never forget.”
The former president, a New York native, noted that the images of the deadliest terrorist attack in American history “are etched in our minds forever.”
In the two-minute video, Trump paid tribute to the victims of the attack as well as the firefighters, police officers and other first responders who helped those injured that day.
“We remember the 2,977 precious souls who were brutally taken from us that morning 22 years ago, leaving a void that can never be filled – no matter what happens, it can never be filled.” “We will be a prayer for “Speak to each of the wonderful families they left behind and whose pain is unimaginable,” he said.
Melania Trump paid a simpler tribute by posting a photo of the New York skyline with the hashtag #NeverForget and the American flag emjoi.
Donald Trump paid tribute to the victims of the September 11 attack as well as the firefighters, police officers and other first responders who helped those injured that day
It was a rare public statement from the former first lady, who has kept a low public profile while her husband runs for another term in the White House and pursues multiple legal cases.
Trump, spotted this weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, spent the anniversary publicly out of sight.
As president, he and Melania Trump held a memorial ceremony at the White House during their years in the White House and visited all the memorial sites – the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
“God bless the memory of all those who died in the September 11 attacks. We will never forget you, we will never forget you, we love you.” “God bless their families and God bless America,” Trump said in his video tribute.
The former president was criticized by some 9/11 families for hosting the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament at his golf clubs.
Meanwhile, Ron and Casey DeSantis joined the families of 9/11 victims at the World Trade Center on Monday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the attacks.
Seven families invited Florida’s first couple to meet at one of the sites of the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. The couple was seen walking through the memorial, speaking to and taking photos with family members before standing with them during the solemn memorial ceremony.
DeSantis was the only Republican presidential candidate on site, but he and Casey DeSantis were at the World Trade Center at the same time as Vice President Kamala Harris, who was there to represent President Joe Biden, who is spending the anniversary thousands of miles away from the site of Ground Zero in Alaska.
Later Monday, First Lady Jill Biden will lay a wreath at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in Shanksville.
Only a few Republican presidential candidates attend this celebratory event. Vivek Ramaswamy will also attend a memorial service in New York. Mike Pence will attend one in Iowa.
Then-President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend a ceremony at the Pentagon marking the 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2019, attacks
Then-President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the opening of the memorial at the site where Flight 93 crashed during the September 11, 2018, attacks
“Twenty-two years ago, nineteen terrorists claimed 2,977 innocent lives in the deadliest attack on America in our history. “We will never forget,” DeSantis wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Every year, a ceremony is held at Ground Zero to honor the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Biden is scheduled to be in Alaska for less than two hours on Monday to mark the anniversary from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Traditionally, presidents spend 9/11 at one of the three sites where planes crashed, killing 2,977 Americans, or host a ceremony at the White House.
But Biden will be at a military base 4,362 miles from Ground Zero. The president is stopping there on his way back to the United States from his visits to India and Vietnam.
In New York City, family members of the victims read out the names of those killed in the attacks.
In Virginia, officials Unfurled US flag on the west side of the Pentagon – the same place where one of the hijacked planes hit.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey at the National September 11 Memorial during the ceremony commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks
Early Monday morning, officials were seen unfurling a US flag on the west side of the Pentagon
American flags and flowers line the memorial pool at the National September 11 Memorial
American flags fly at half-staff around the Washington Monument on the National Mall to mark the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks
A total of six moments of silence were observed – to commemorate the impacts and collapses of each tower, as well as the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of United Flight 93.
The first took place after the bells rang at 8:46 a.m., marking the start of the attacks – when hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into floors 93 to 99 of the North Tower. The impact killed all 92 people on board.
A second moment of silence was held at 9:03 a.m. to mark the deliberate crash of United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 77 to 85 of the South Tower, leaving no New Yorker in doubt at the time that the attacks were malicious in nature.
The next event occurred at 9:37 a.m. when another group of terrorists intentionally crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, just outside the nation’s capital.
A fourth minute of silence at 9:59 a.m. to mark the moment the South Tower, the second train to be hit, collapsed, and another four minutes later – to mark the moment when passengers on the United 93 heroically did that They stormed the cockpit to recapture the plane from their attackers.
In response, the hijackers crashed the plane in an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania – likely saving many lives, as many suspected the plane’s destination was either the White House or the Capitol.
The final moment of quiet mourning came at 10:28 a.m. — the time the North Tower collapsed, leaving the 16-acre World Trade Center site in ruins and the collective U.S. consciousness in shambles.