Former president Joe Biden and Jill Biden will attend the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Centre site in New York on Friday, September 11, 2026.
Their attendance completes the expected line-up of living former presidents at the landmark commemoration, while President Donald Trump is set to observe the anniversary at the Pentagon instead.
Mr Biden’s spokesman, T.J. Ducklo, confirmed on Tuesday that the former president and former first lady would be at the ceremony in Lower Manhattan. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum declined to comment.
Mr Trump, who is originally from New York, had been expected to appear at the World Trade Centre site. However, he decided against attending after being told that politicians would not be permitted to deliver speeches during the ceremony, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The anniversary falls between a Republican midterm convention being staged by Mr Trump and his aides in Texas and a golf tournament at his club in Doonbeg, Ireland. One person briefed on the plans said travelling overseas would be easier if the president departed from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland rather than using a commercial airport in the New York area.
Security concerns may also have been considered. Mr Trump has faced threats from Iran amid the war involving the United States and Israel earlier this year, although it is unclear whether that played a role in his decision.
The president is expected to attend a separate observance at the Pentagon, which was struck by a hijacked airliner on September 11, 2001. He delivered an address there on the anniversary last year.
Mr Trump later disputed reports that he would skip the New York ceremony. In a social media post on August 28, he wrote: “I would love not to speak, because I’m speaking all the time, and this is a day to remember the victims, and their beautiful family members.”
Former presidents to attend New York ceremony
Mr Biden and Dr Biden will join George W. Bush and Laura Bush, along with Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, at the World Trade Centre commemoration.
Mr Bush was about eight months into his first term when the attacks took place, while Mrs Clinton was serving as a New York senator. Family members of those killed will read the names of the dead during a ceremony lasting several hours.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum has said the 2026 programme will begin at 8.30am, with the first moment of silence at 8.46am, the time the first plane struck the North Tower. The ceremony will include seven moments of silence recognising the attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, as well as those who later died from 9/11-related illness and injuries.
