Joe Biden and Jill Biden Will Visit All 3 Sites of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, As Documents Related to the Attacks Undergo Declassification Review
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit all three sites of the 9/11 terrorist attacks next Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
The pair will visit New York City; Shanksville, PA, and the Pentagon. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will similarly travel to Shanksville for a separate event and will then join the president and first lady at the Pentagon.
Biden’s visits will come less than two weeks after U.S. troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan — ending the 20 year war that was sparked by 9/11.
“America went to Afghanistan 20 years ago to defeat the forces that attacked this country on September 11th,” Biden said in a statement. “That mission resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden over a decade ago and the degradation of al Qaeda. And yet, 10 years later, when I became President, a small number of U.S. troops still remained on the ground, in harm’s way, with a looming deadline to withdraw them or go back to open combat.”
Yesterday, Biden issued an executive order to hold a declassification review of documents related to 9/11 following a strong push from many victims’ families and message that he would not be welcome at memorial events until he did so. The review and release will likely not be completed prior to Sept. 11.
Some family members have said they will not be fully satisfied until they can see the documents for themselves.
“I think this is a great first step, Michael, and I think more to come, but the proof will be in the pudding, but I’m excited to see what happens next,” Brett Eagleson, whose father Bruce was killed at the World Trade Center, told CNN’s Michael Smerconish. “But we need the president to hold strong, do not let the bureaucracy snow him. Do not trust the FBI. It’s the same people that have been throwing us under the bus for 20 years that are now leading this declassification review.
