President Donald Trump pushed back Friday against a report claiming he will skip this year’s Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony in New York City after organizers refused a request for him to speak.
The New York Times reported that members of Trump’s team conveyed the president’s interest in delivering remarks at the event to organizers in recent weeks. The newspaper cited three unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has prohibited politicians from giving speeches during its annual commemoration ceremony since 2012.
Trump is now expected to attend a memorial service at the Pentagon on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Times. Vice President JD Vance will reportedly represent the White House at the ceremony in New York.
Trump blasted the newspaper’s report in a Truth Social post, denying that the speaking restriction influenced his plans for the anniversary.
“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.
The president added that he did not object to attending an event without delivering remarks.
Trump said he “would love not to speak, because I’m speaking all the time.”
The president also directed a fierce personal attack at Times reporter Maggie Haberman, one of the journalists whose name appeared on the report.
Trump called Haberman a “Fake Reporter” and described her as “an unattractive person both inside and out.”
“She’s been falsely writing about me for years — She’s a stalker, and should be forced to turn over any and all money that she’s made through her fake reporting on me,” the president wrote.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Times over its reporting about him and his administration.
The latest clash comes after Trump’s Justice Department subpoenaed four Times journalists last month following their reporting on potential security concerns involving the president’s new Qatari-gifted Air Force One aircraft.
The Justice Department later withdrew those subpoenas.
The dispute centers on where Trump will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attacks and whether the New York ceremony’s longstanding prohibition on political speeches affected the decision.
According to the Times, Trump’s representatives had expressed his interest in speaking at the Manhattan event before plans shifted toward the Pentagon memorial service.
Trump rejected that portrayal, pointing out that elected officials have not spoken at the Ground Zero ceremony for years and describing it as a solemn occasion.
The president did not dispute in his post that he could attend the Pentagon service while Vance appears at the New York commemoration. Instead, he forcefully denied the newspaper’s reported explanation for those arrangements and renewed his long-running criticism of Haberman and the Times.
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