WASHINGTON â President Donald Trump will mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the Pentagon on Friday, joining military leaders and victimsâ families for one of the most significant U.S. remembrance ceremonies of the year.
The Pentagon event is one of three major commemorations taking place at the sites directly affected by the 2001 attacks. Vice President JD Vance is expected at Ground Zero in New York, while administration officials will join the Flight 93 remembrance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Trumpâs Pentagon ceremony begins Friday morning
The Pentagonâs official September 11 observance is scheduled to begin at 8:35 a.m. EDT and continue until about 11 a.m.
An earlier flag-unfurling ceremony is scheduled for 6:20 a.m. EDT, continuing the Pentagon tradition of displaying a large American flag on the building where American Airlines Flight 77 struck on September 11, 2001.
The main ceremony can be followed through the Department of Defenseâs official webcast.
For viewers across the U.S., 8:35 a.m. EDT is 7:35 a.m. CDT, 6:35 a.m. MDT and 5:35 a.m. PDT.
Trump expected to deliver remarks
Trump is expected to speak during the Pentagon commemoration, where attention will center on the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77.
The hijacked aircraft struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. on September 11, killing 125 people inside the building and 59 passengers and crew members aboard the plane, excluding the hijackers.
This is the second consecutive year Trump has marked September 11 at the Pentagon. He attended the Ground Zero ceremony in New York in 2024.
During last yearâs Pentagon observance, Trump recalled moments involving passengers aboard the hijacked planes and paid tribute to those killed and the first responders who rushed toward danger.
JD Vance heads to Ground Zero
Vice President JD Vance is expected to attend the New York ceremony alongside former presidents and other dignitaries.
The Ground Zero observance remains focused on victims and their families. Relatives traditionally read aloud the names of those killed in the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The first major moment of silence comes at 8:46 a.m., marking the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
This yearâs 25th-anniversary program includes seven moments of silence, marking the attacks, the collapse of the Twin Towers and those who later died from illnesses and injuries linked to September 11 and its aftermath.
Flight 93 victims remembered in Pennsylvania
Officials will also gather at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, where the 40 passengers and crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 93 are remembered.
Passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers after learning of the attacks unfolding elsewhere. The aircraft crashed in rural Pennsylvania before reaching its intended target in Washington.
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Trump began 9/11 commemorations earlier this week
Trump took part in a remembrance event Tuesday on the Ellipse outside the White House organized by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
The event featured a 21-foot steel beam weighing nearly 17,000 pounds recovered from the World Trade Centerâs South Tower. The beam traveled across the United States as part of the Steel Across America tour.
It was scheduled to return to New York for a procession honoring fallen firefighter Stephen Siller, who ran through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel toward the World Trade Center after learning of the attacks.
Trump also posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, the 24-year-old equities trader known as the âMan in the Red Bandanaâ who helped people escape the South Tower before he was killed.
September 11 designated Patriot Day 2026
Trump issued a presidential proclamation designating September 11 as Patriot Day 2026 and directing federal flags to be flown at half-staff.
The attacks killed 2,977 victims across New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania and triggered sweeping changes to U.S. intelligence, aviation security and counterterrorism policy.
Those changes transformed federal law enforcement as well. Robert Mueller became FBI director just days before the attacks and later oversaw a major shift toward intelligence and counterterrorism, a defining part of Robert Muellerâs FBI legacy after 9/11.
The broader role of federal institutions remains central to U.S. political debate today, including recent Justice Department disputes such as the UC Berkeley Law admissions investigation.
A generation now knows 9/11 only through history
The 25th anniversary carries unusual weight because an entire generation of Americans has now reached adulthood without personally remembering the attacks.
For victimsâ families, survivors and first responders, however, Fridayâs ceremonies remain deeply personal. The Pentagon, Ground Zero and Shanksville will again serve as the three central places where the country pauses to remember the people killed and the consequences that continue a quarter-century later.
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