Update:
On Friday afternoon it was announced that President Biden had signed an executive order requiring the declassification of 9/11 documents, as Katie covered here. It remains to be seen if Biden's action Friday provides the answers demanded by 9/11 survivors or victims' families and if the President will be welcomed at 20th-anniversary memorial events.
Original Post:
The 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is just over one week away, yet the White House has not said anything about President Biden's plans to mark the day. No announcement has been made of a moment of silence at the White House or plans to attend ceremonies at the Pentagon, World Trade Center, or Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
In lieu of any official announcement from the White House, The New Jersey Globe reported last week that "President Joe Biden will be at the World Trade Center in New York on September 11 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States," though such reporting remains unconfirmed by the administration.
“Joe Biden will be at the World Trade Center in New York on September 11 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks,” reports @TheNJGlobe.
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) September 2, 2021
In early August, 1,800+ people directly impacted by the attacks told Biden he wasn’t welcome.https://t.co/T4ZQQPvEDE
If Biden does, in fact, attend the memorial events at Ground Zero — as he did last year and on many previous anniversaries — the President is setting up a confrontation between himself and those directly impacted by the terrorist attacks that ended 2,977 innocent lives two decades ago.
In early August, more than 1,800 individuals impacted by 9/11 issued a letter criticizing Biden for breaking a campaign pledge to release information regarding the role Saudi Arabia's government may have had in the attacks.
While campaigning for president, Biden promised 9/11 survivors and victims' families that he would "direct my Attorney General to personally examine the merits of all cases where the invocation of privilege is recommended, and to err on the side of disclosure in cases where, as here, the events in question occurred two decades or longer ago."
Several months into his administration, though, Biden still hasn't followed through on that promise. On Friday, Biden refused to answer questions about his promise.
Asked if he will sign an EO to disclose long-classified documents that the 9/11 families think could reveal connections between the Saudi Arabia govt and the hijackers, Biden paused, trying to hear the question over helicopter noise.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 3, 2021
“I’ll talk to you later,” was his answer. pic.twitter.com/pxgtwXZnAg
"Our patience has expired," the 9/11 families' letter said. "We cannot in good faith, and with veneration to those lost, sick, and injured, welcome the president to our hallowed grounds until he fulfills his commitment."
Joe Biden, of course, advocated against the strike that killed Osama bin Laden while he was vice president and then executed last month's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in Taliban terrorists retaking the country and seizing billions of dollars in American arms, vehicles, and equipment while ISIS-K terrorists were freed and Americans were left behind.
After his administration put America in the position of being less safe than we were on September 10, 2001 and breaking his promise to 9/11 survivors and victims' families, a Biden appearance at the hallowed ground of the World Trade Center would be especially fraught.