The White House failed to provide evidence to the Daily Caller that President Joe Biden visited Ground Zero the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City after he claimed he did during a speech on the 22nd anniversary.
Biden claimed during a speech in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday that he visited the site of the terrorist attack in New York City on Sept. 12, 2001. When asked if there was evidence the president visited Ground Zero the day following the terrorist attacks, the White House provided the Daily Caller with two articles and a photo showing that Biden visited the wreckage of the World Trade Centers on Sept. 20, 2001 but did not directly address whether he was there on Sept. 12, 2001.
“Senator Biden was ‘in the delegation of Senators that traveled by train to New York to view the rubble left by the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers,'” the White House told the Daily Caller, citing The Associated Press.
“Sen. Ten Kennedy, D-Mass., left, stands by as Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., joins in prayer with rescue workers at the site of the World Trade Center tragedy in New York on Thursday,” the excerpt of the article reads. “At top center is Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was also in the delegation of senators that traveled by train to New York to view the rubble left by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.”
The White House provided the Daily Caller with a second article from CNN that showed that 38 Senators visited the wreckage in New York City on Sept. 20, 2001.
BIDEN: “Never Forget! – Ground Zero in New York. I remember standing there the next day – Felt like I was looking through the gates of hell.” pic.twitter.com/YBAmEodZSp
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 11, 2023
Biden stopped in Anchorage on Monday on his way back from the G20 summit in India to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The president delivered an address at Joint Base Elmendorf-International Airport to service members, first responders and their families. (RELATED: ‘Tragedy Struck’: GOP Presidential Candidates Commemorate 9/11 On 22nd Anniversary)
The president broke the decades-long tradition of honoring victims of the terrorist attacks in the Washington, D.C., area or at the New York City or Somerset County, Pennsylvania, crash sites.