President Joe Biden is scheduled to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 by making a stop in Alaska, forgoing visiting the sites of the terror attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
While in Alaska on the anniversary, the president will “participate in a memorial ceremony with members of the military and their families,” the White House announced Monday.
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will participate in a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, while first lady Jill Biden will lay a wreath at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.
Biden will be coming back from a Sep. 10 trip to Vietnam, where he will speak to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong about furthering bilateral relations, according to the White House. (RELATED: Families Affected By 9/11 Ask Biden Not To Come To Memorial Events: REPORT)
The White House did not respond to an inquiry from the Daily Caller on who the service members will be and why the administration chose Alaska for the venue.
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – SEPTEMBER 11: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 21st anniversary of the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon during the September 11th terrorist attacks at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial on September 11, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. The nation is marking the twenty-first anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, when the terrorist group al-Qaeda flew hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center, Shanksville, PA, and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
This year would mark the first time the president won’t commemorate the terror attacks at one of the sites. Biden went to the Pentagon in 2022 and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed, in 2021.
Former President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama each visited either the Pentagon, Pennsylvania or New York City on every 9/11 anniversary during their presidency.
Former President George W. Bush visited Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in 2003 to commemorate the second anniversary.