President Donald Trump announced he will attend the 25th anniversary commemoration of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, rather than at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. The confirmation comes ahead of one of the most significant milestone observances of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people across three sites including the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Trump pushed back on reports suggesting his decision to skip Ground Zero was notable, stating that the Pentagon had always been his intended location for the anniversary. The Pentagon was itself a target of the September 11 attacks, with 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building.

The Pentagon hosts its own official memorial and annual ceremony honoring those who died there. Senior defense officials and military leadership are typically present at the Pentagon observance, which has historically drawn high-level government attendance alongside the more publicly prominent Ground Zero ceremony in New York.

The decision places the commander-in-chief at the military site of one of the three attack locations, though New York officials and some families of victims have long regarded Ground Zero as the symbolic heart of national remembrance. No official explanation was provided for why Trump chose the Pentagon over New York City for the milestone anniversary.