Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump shook hands at the ceremony held hours after the two squared off in their first debate.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump paid their respects to those lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, at a remembrance ceremony in Manhattan held on the event’s 23rd anniversary.
Biden and Trump shook hands, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to facilitate a handshake between Harris and Trump. Just hours earlier, Harris and Trump participated in their first presidential debate, during which the two candidates also shook hands.
Turning to face the crowds, Harris was flanked by Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Next to Biden stood Bloomberg, and on the other side of the former mayor stood Trump and his 2024 running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
Sept. 11—the date when al-Qaeda hijackers seized control of four commercial airliners and killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001—falls in the thick of the presidential election season every four years.
Despite the campaign calendars, organizers of anniversary ceremonies have tried to keep the focus on the victims of the attacks. For years, politicians have attended the ground zero observances primarily as observers, while the relatives of the victims have had the chance to speak about their loved ones.
“Today is a day of solemn remembrance as we mourn the souls we lost in a heinous terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. We stand in solidarity with their families and loved ones,” Harris said in a White House statement on Wednesday. “We also honor the extraordinary heroism on display that fateful day by ordinary Americans helping their fellow Americans. We will never forget.”
Harris and Biden plan to travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, later on Wednesday, to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, who were killed during the 9/11 attacks. The pair will then travel to the Pentagon to participate in another wreath-laying honoring those killed at the headquarters of the Department of Defense 23 years ago.
Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communication director, told The Epoch Times that Trump will also visit the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville and attend other 9/11 remembrance events throughout the day.
After attending the remembrance ceremony at the Ground Zero memorial in Manhattan, Trump visited with members of the New York City Fire Department’s Engine 4/Tower Ladder 15 crew hosting their own 9/11 remembrance ceremony.
Other remembrance events continued on Wednesday.
“On behalf of the entire Department of Defense, let me offer my deepest condolences to the families, the friends, and the loved ones of the 184 souls who were stolen from us 23 years ago today, here at the Pentagon and on Flight 77,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a Pentagon remembrance event Wednesday.
Austin remarked that “it can feel as if more and more Americans are returning to normal life on each new September 11th,” but he said those at the Pentagon will continue to remember the day.
“The men and women of the Department of Defense remember. And we always will,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.