Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 11 SepteMber 2017

Trump readies for first Sept. 11 commemoration as president

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE ery of New York police of-
Associated Press ficers, firefighters and other
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- emergency responders
dent Donald Trump will who rushed to the Twin Tow-
preside over his first 9/11 ers, in some cases knowing
commemoration in office they probably wouldn’t
on Monday, a mostly sol- make it out alive, as an ex-
emn and nonpartisan oc- ample of the resilience of
casion that may highlight the city where he made a
his muddled claims about name for himself.
the worst terrorist attack on But Trump has criticized
U.S. soil. Trump and first lady President George W. Bush’s
Melania Trump planned to handling of the attacks,
observe a moment of si- accusing his fellow Re-
lence at the White House in publican of failing to keep
remembrance of the near- Americans safe.
ly 3,000 people who were Trump has also made dubi-
killed when hijackers flew ous claims about Sept. 11,
commercial airplanes into particularly saying when
New York’s World Trade talking about Muslims that
Center, the Pentagon and “thousands of people were
a field near Shanksville, cheering” in Jersey City,
Pennsylvania, the White In this Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 photo, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, bottom, is New Jersey, across the
House said. surrounded by high-rise towers in New York. The new towers are: WTC 1, second from left, WTC Hudson River from lower
The morning remembrance 7, third from left, WTC 3, second from right, and WTC 4, right. Monday will mark the sixteenth Manhattan, as the tow-
was scheduled for about anniversary of the terrorist attacks. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) ers collapsed. There is no
the time the first plane retary Jim Mattis and Gen. three weeks. Vice President 9/11. He frequently uses evidence in news archives
struck one of the Twin Tow- Joseph Dunford, chairman Mike Pence was to repre- the terrorist strikes to praise of mass celebrations there
ers on the morning of Sept. of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. sent the administration at the city’s response but also by Muslims. Trump has also
11, 2001. Trump and his wife The observances come as an observance at the 9/11 makes unsubstantiated said he lost “hundreds of
also were to pay their re- Trump grapples with the memorial in Shanksville. claims about what he did friends” in the attack and
spects at a Pentagon cer- death and destruction A native New Yorker, Trump and saw on that day. that he helped clear rubble
emony led by Defense Sec- caused by two hurricanes in has a mixed history with Trump often lauds the brav- afterward.q