Harris and Trump shake hands at New York 9/11 remembrance ceremony on 23rd anniversary of attacks

CNN

By Michael Williams and Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance are commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks, appearing to put political hostilities on the back burner for a moment as the nation remembers the tragedy.

All four were in New York on Wednesday for a commemoration event at Ground Zero in Manhattan. Trump and Harris, just hours past their first in-person meeting at the presidential debate Tuesday night, shook hands ahead of solemn commemorative ceremonies after Harris turned toward Trump and both extended a hand. Vance and Harris did not appear to interact.

Harris and Biden then traveled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial. At that ceremony, Biden placed his hand on the wreath as the small group he was with bowed their heads. The president and vice president also stopped by a local Shanksville volunteer fire station that served as a key gathering point for families in 2001.

Biden and Harris observed a display of a cross made of the plane’s scraps. Biden made the sign of the cross before walking in to meet some of the families affected by that day.

Inside the fire station, Biden briefly donned a Trump hat as an apparent gesture of bipartisan unity.

A White House spokesperson said the president was talking about how the country was united in the aftermath of the attacks and said it needed to return to that. He handed a hat to a man wearing a Trump cap as a gesture, and that man gave Biden his hat to briefly wear, the spokesperson said. Pictures show Biden smiling widely while wearing the hat.

While candidates in active campaigning in past years have traditionally avoided politics on the anniversary of the attacks, this campaign cycle is notable for its toxicity, making those fleeting, ordinary gestures of bipartisanship – shaking hands and wearing a hat – significant.

Biden and Harris later traveled to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, for another wreath laying ceremony.

Trump will also travel separately to Shanksville later on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with his plans.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will also attend an event to commemorate the anniversary. His office did not say where the event will take place.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed when Islamist terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners on September 11, 2001. Two planes were crashed into each of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Another plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania after passengers tried to thwart the hijacking.

Last year, Biden marked the 22nd anniversary with a ceremony involving American service members in Alaska. During that ceremony, the president falsely claimed he visited Ground Zero “the next day” after the attacks. He actually went nine days later.

The president visited the Pentagon during the anniversary in 2022. In 2021, he and first lady Jill Biden also traveled to each of the three sites of the terror attack. They were joined by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama at the New York remembrance.

How candidates have navigated 9/11 in the past

Wednesday’s events mark the sixth election cycle in which presidential candidates have navigated the somber anniversary amid a heated campaign season.

Over the years, the day has provided both an opportunity for unity and a window into deep divisions. For three cycles in a row, Trump – himself a native New Yorker who has repeated false claims about the terror attack in the past – has been the Republican nominee.

Four years ago, then-candidate Biden and then-President Trump managed to avoid each other while both attending memorial events at Ground Zero. Later, they traveled to Shanksville, but also managed to avoid crossing paths.

Instead, Biden greeted then-Vice President Mike Pence, giving him a Covid-era elbow bump.

In 2016, both Trump and Hillary Clinton attended memorial events marking the 15th anniversary of 9/11 at Ground Zero. Clinton departed the event suddenly after falling ill and appearing unsteady, providing an opening for Trump to later question her health. She was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Then-President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney did not cross paths in 2012. Instead, Obama attended events at the sites of the terror attacks while Romney campaigned in Nevada. Still, Romney held off criticizing his opponent: “There is a time and a place for that, but this day is not it,” he said.

All of it is a distant cry from 2008, when Obama and Sen. John McCain joined together to lay a wreath at Ground Zero, putting aside their bitter campaign for at least a few hours to commemorate the somber anniversary.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Kit Maher and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

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