Did President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris skip a visit to the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, memorial on September 11, 2024? No, that's not true: Both paid their respects at the memorial to 9/11 victims approximately two hours before former President Donald Trump arrived for a similar visit. They also visited the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department.
The implied claim that Biden and Harris did not come to Shanksville appeared in a post on Instagram on September 11, 2024, in the caption "Where is Kamala?!?? Where is Joe?!?!" Text above the video said:
Donald Trump just visited the FLIGHT 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. WE WILL NEVER FORGET WHAT TOOK PLACE TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO.
According to dispatches from White House pool reporter Peter Baker of The New York Times, Biden and Harris touched down near the Flight 93 National Memorial at 12:10 p.m. EDT on September 11, 2024. Approximately 40 minutes later they were "escorted on the patio in front of the memorial's Walls of Names and stopped in front of a large wreath of white and red flowers mounted on a stand." A C-SPAN feed captured that moment at the 0:51 mark.
Biden and Harris later visited the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department to visit "with people affected by the attack," according to the pool report. The motorcade left at 2:08 p.m.
Trump arrived around that same time. A Fox News live feed showed Trump acknowledging cheers at the Shanksville Memorial at 2:08 p.m., when he participated in a wreath-laying ceremony. He also visited the firefighters in Shanksville.
Shanksville is where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2001, after passengers tried to regain control of the aircraft from a group of hijackers connected to attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The U.S. Capitol has long been considered the ultimate target for Flight 93.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims about 9/11 can be read here. Other fact checks on claims concerning the 2024 election can be read here.
