NEW YORK -- A television anchor, in an interview with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, appeared to equate a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the controversy over statues of Confederate soldiers.

Zinke was a guest on "Fox & Friends" Monday. He was talking about his appearance with Vice President Mike Pence at the memorial to passengers on hijacked United Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.

Anchor Brian Kilmeade asked if Zinke worried that 100 years from now, "someone's going to try and take that memorial down like they're trying to remake our memorials today."

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It was an apparent reference to debates over the future of memorials to Confederate figures from the Civil War.

After a brief pause, Zinke replied: "I'm one that believes we should learn from history."

Monday marked the 16th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks.