President Biden’s Monday, September 11, statements regarding his whereabouts on the day following the 9/11 attacks have sparked controversy. During a speech in Anchorage, Alaska, on the 22nd anniversary of the attacks, President Biden claimed that he was at the World Trade Center site in New York City and witnessed the devastation firsthand.
He also suggested that he saw the immediate aftermath of the Pentagon attack, describing a “plume of fire” from the Amtrak train platform in Washington’s Union Station.
However, these claims appear to contradict his own 2007 autobiography, “Promises to Keep,” in which he wrote that he arrived in Washington on the morning of September 11, 2001, after the Pentagon had already been struck.
He mentioned seeing “a brown haze of smoke” beyond the Capitol dome but did not describe any visit to Ground Zero on the day after the attacks. Instead, his book recounted his activities on September 12, 2001.
On September 12, 2001, news reports and C-SPAN footage show that Senator Biden was indeed in the U.S. Senate, delivering a speech. Furthermore, former President George W. Bush visited Ground Zero two days later, addressing the workers and famously declaring, “The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
A White House official has clarified that President Biden was considering a visit to Ground Zero on September 20, 2001, as part of a 38-senator delegation, nine days after the attacks.
The discrepancy between the President’s recent statements and his own autobiography has raised questions and prompted some to scrutinize the accuracy of his recollections.
It’s essential for public figures to maintain consistency in their accounts of historical events to ensure transparency and credibility. The President’s recollections may be subject to further investigation and clarification as the debate continues.
