Donald Trump’s 9/11 Memorial Speech: Full Transcript on 25th Anniversary - Newsweek

President Donald Trump delivered his speech to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York City, hundreds of miles away from Lower Manhattan, at the Pentagon Friday, linking the events to the current war with Iran.

Trump spoke at the Pentagon's 9/11 Observance Ceremony honoring the 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building.

"In 25 years, a generation has passed since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, yet time has not dimmed the horror of that day when our country came face-to-face with true evil," Trump said.

The president spoke from the teleprompter, outlining some of the stories of those on board the fated flights that morning, along with those in the offices at the Pentagon in the minutes before the plane struck.

"We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today," Trump said. "We don't have a choice, there can only be victory."

Vice President JD Vance represented the administration at the Ground Zero ceremony in New York City, while other officials attended the observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Trump spent time recounting the stories of some of those killed on September 11 as well as their loved ones who saw the events unfold on television.

The president spoke of three 11-year-olds on board Flight 77 which was meant to head to Los Angeles, "on a cross country field-trip," a family on an international adventure, and a flight attendant who had just found out she was pregnant.

At the Pentagon, Trump said, was a U.S. Navy airman who had just hung up after a call with his 10-year-old son, while a secretary was celebrating her birthday.

Shortly after, Trump said, every single one of those people was "murdered by terrorists."

Trump linked the terror attacks, organized and carried out by Islamist extremists, to his ongoing war with Iran, saying that the fight against extremism which started 25 years ago was echoed in what was happening in 2026.

"The world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon," the president said on Friday.

The president paid tribute to the first responders who rushed toward the scenes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and who continued to search for survivors in the days after.

A United States flag, which was unfurled at the Pentagon on September 12, 2001, was displayed again Friday.

"General James Jackson ordered up the largest flag in the military's collection, and they think in the military's history," Trump said. "First responders climbed to top the walls and hung it next to the gaping holes in this building as a symbol of American defiance. This morning, that same flag is here to my right. For the first time since 2001, along with three firefighters who raised it."

As he told the crowd the U.S. would never forget, the president read the date from the teleprompter as "September 11, twenty-oh-one," adding "very famous date, unfortunately."

Before his speech, Trump sat next to the first lady Melania Trump and was accused by some observers on social media of dozing off on a few occasions.

The president has faced similar accusations before, particularly during Oval Office events when others are speaking behind him or during cabinet meetings. The White House has dismissed the claims, saying the president is either blinking or listening intently.

The Pentagon's 9/11 Observance Ceremony began around 9 a.m. Eastern Friday. The ceremony was not open to the public, but it was livestreamed by the Department of Defense and the White House, while also carried by multiple news outlets.

Below is a full transcript of Trump's speech at the Pentagon Friday morning.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has barred elected officials from speaking at its ceremony since 2012, citing its commitment to remaining nonpartisan. According to a report first published by The New York Times, Trump wanted to deliver remarks marking the milestone anniversary, prompting him to choose the Pentagon instead.

Asked by reporters why he would not be in New York, Trump said, "Because I'm going to the Pentagon." He later pushed back on reporting about his plans in a Truth Social post, calling it "more Corrupt News" and saying he has attended the New York ceremony many times over the years.

"This is more Corrupt News, I've been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks, it's a 'solemn ceremony!'" Trump wrote, adding, "I would love not to speak, because I'm speaking all the time, and this is a day to remember the victims, and their beautiful family members."

White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Newsweek in a statement that Trump would use the Pentagon ceremony to remember the victims, honor their families and pay tribute to first responders.

Trump also marked last year's 24th anniversary at the Pentagon, then traveled to the Bronx that evening for a Yankees game. He last attended the Ground Zero ceremony in 2024, while campaigning for a second term.

The 25th anniversary is drawing commemorations across all three attack sites and beyond.

The Memorial Plaza opened to victims' family members at 7 a.m. Friday. The program itself began at 8:30 a.m., with the first moment of silence observed at 8:46 a.m., marking the moment the first hijacked plane struck the North Tower.

The ceremony included seven moments of silence total, marking when each tower was struck and fell, the times of the attacks on the Pentagon and Flight 93, and a new seventh moment observed after the reading of the names, honoring those who died later from 9/11-related illness.

The World Trade Center campus is closed to the public from 10 p.m. Thursday until 3 p.m. Friday. The Memorial plaza is expected to reopen to the public Friday afternoon, though the museum has not yet announced an exact time.

Vice President JD Vance attended in Trump's place. Former President Joe Biden, and former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were also present. Former first ladies Jill Biden and Laura Bush, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also attended.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was also present, despite pressure from critics to stay away. Mamdani, the first Muslim to hold the office, has said his focus will be on the victims' families and the first responders who worked to rescue them. "I want this week to be a focus on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th," Mamdani told reporters this week.

The ceremony remained centered on victims' families, who read the names of the dead aloud on the Memorial plaza.

Trump was at his Trump Tower apartment in Midtown Manhattan on the morning of September 11 and gave media interviews as the attacks unfolded.

In a live telephone interview with WWOR-TV just hours after the Twin Towers were struck, Trump discussed the New York City attacks and the response he believed the United States should pursue against those responsible. During the same interview, he also remarked that his building at 40 Wall Street had become the tallest remaining building in Lower Manhattan following the collapse of the World Trade Center.

"Forty Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest, and then when they built the World Trade Center it became known as the second-tallest, and now it's the tallest," Trump, then a real estate developer, said during the interview.

Two days later, Trump appeared near Ground Zero, where he surveyed the destruction and spoke to reporters and television crews. A Washington Post report from September 13, 2001, described him arriving at the site and observing the ongoing recovery effort.

In interviews at the time, Trump described the devastation as unlike "anything he had ever witnessed" and said workers associated with his company were assisting in the area. He also spoke about participating in the rebuilding effort that would eventually follow.

As Trump entered national politics, September 11 increasingly became part of his public identity.

During the 2016 Republican primary campaign, he frequently referenced the attacks while defending New York against criticism from rivals and emphasizing his connection to the city. At campaign events, Trump spoke about witnessing the attacks and experiencing their aftermath firsthand, but this time in New Jersey.

"Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down, and I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering," then-presidential candidate Trump said during a rally he held in Birmingham, Alabama.

Fact-checkers, local officials, and the mayor of Jersey City confirmed there was no evidence or truth to this claim.

His latest comments came Tuesday during a ceremony at the White House Ellipse honoring emergency workers who responded to the attacks. Trump said that when he and a group of workers visited lower Manhattan shortly after the attacks, two firefighters carried him away because they feared One Liberty Plaza, formerly known as the U.S. Steel Building, was about to collapse.

“Two firemen, big strong guys—and I’m not the smallest guy in the world—they grabbed me under the arm, said: ‘Got to get out of here.’ And they literally lifted me up,” the president claimed. “This is not easy to do. I’m big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said: ‘Fellas, I can run myself,’ but they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn’t come down.”

There is no evidence that firefighters carried Trump to safety after the attack.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech, Gray R. Thomas and Anthony Murray.