Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump attended the ceremony commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks held at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.
Harris and Trump shook hands cordially as other officials, including President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and JD Vance looked on. The brief exchange showed no hint of the acrimony between the two candidates that was seen on Tuesday night during their debate.
The ceremony honored the nearly 3,000 lives lost 23 years ago in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93, as well as the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center that killed six. Loved ones of those lost read their names, in a tradition that goes back to 2002, the year after the attack.
“Today is a day of solemn remembrance as we mourn the souls we lost in a heinous terrorist attack on September 11, 2001,” Harris said in a statement released by the White House. “We stand in solidarity with their families and loved ones. We also honor the extraordinary heroism on display that fateful day by ordinary Americans helping their fellow Americans. We will never forget.”
The moment was not without some controversy, though.
Trump attended the ceremony with conservative pundit and failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer, who has described herself as an “Islamophobe” and as “pro-white nationalism.” In 2023, Loomer promoted a video touting the debunked conspiracy theory that “9/11 was an inside job,” meaning that the U.S. government supposedly orchestrated the attacks.
Trump also has long ties to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who popularized many false theories about the terrorist attacks.
For many years, Trump promoted the racist birther conspiracy theory about former President Barack Obama, falsely claimed that climate change is a “hoax” from the Chinese government, and has continued to promote the lie that he won the 2020 presidential election.
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