Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he plans to attend the 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City next week, where he will appear alongside former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.
Speaking at the first White House press briefing since former press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s departure in August, Vance was asked about sharing the event with former President Joe Biden.
“I’m really looking forward to hanging out with Joe Biden. I’m sure that we’ll have many, many intense intellectual conversations and, you know, it’ll be great. We’ll have a great time with Joe Biden and the other presidents,” Vance said.
The last known occasion Vance and Biden were in the same room was President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
President Trump himself is not expected in New York for the anniversary. According to Vance, the decision reflected a division of duties among administration officials rather than any security concern in the city.
“We just decided as a team that I would go to New York for 9/11 and the president would stay here in D.C., of course, to commemorate what happened at the Pentagon, because that was a critical part of the tragedy of 9/11 as well,” Vance said.
Trump is expected to attend a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while other administration officials will represent the White House at a remembrance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Together, the three events cover all the locations struck or affected during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Vance said he was not aware of any indication that Trump’s decision to remain in Washington stemmed from security worries in New York City.
Despite the somber nature of the day, Vance said he was looking forward to the trip.
“I will say that as much as it’s tragic and it was a terrible day, I am looking forward to it because it’s such an amazing honor to be able to get to go to New York and to share in that moment,” Vance said.
He said the anniversary carries particular weight for parents introducing their children to the history of the attacks, recalling that he did so with his own family during the 2024 campaign.
“It’s one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I encourage every American, particularly the people who are young enough to not really remember that day, just to tune in for a couple of hours and see what it meant,” Vance said.
Vance added that the anniversary of the attacks continues to give Americans a “sense of commonality and common purpose.”
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