Trump commemorates 9/11 anniversary: 'America cannot be intimidated'

President Donald Trump marked the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Monday, honoring victims, first responders and the military in remarks at the Pentagon and pledging resolve to keep the U.S. safe from future attacks.

"The terrorists who attacked us thought they could incite fear and weaken our spirit. But America cannot be intimidated, and those who try will soon join the long list of vanquished enemies who dared to test our mettle,” Trump said Monday morning.


The president, who recently announced his administration’s strategy for the long-running conflict in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 as a hunt for the organizers of the Sept. 11 attacks, warned that “we are making plain to these savage killers that there is no dark corner beyond our reach. No sanctuary beyond our grasp, and nowhere to hide anywhere on this very large Earth.”

Trump offered consoling words to the families of victims who gathered for Monday’s ceremony and shared the story of a Pentagon police officer who rushed into the wreckage of the Pentagon and saved “as many as 20 people” over his nearly 36 hours working at the site. The attacks against the U.S., the president said, made the nation more resilient and continue to do so.

The president was preceded in his remarks by Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who declared that “Americans are not made of cotton candy, we're not seaweed drifting in the current, we are not intimidated by our enemies and, Mr. President, your military does not scare.”

Also on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence paid tribute to the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who fought against hijackers on 9/11.

“I and many others in our nation's capital were able to go home that day to hug our families because of the courage and selflessness of the heroes of Flight 93,” Pence said, speaking in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.





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Earlier Monday, the president and first lady Melania Trump observed a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House.

Wearing a dark suit and a solid red tie, the president emerged with his wife from the White House’s South Portico at 8:45 a.m. for an 8:46 a.m. moment of silence marking the exact time that American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Melania Trump, who stood by the president’s side during the brief ceremony, wore a long-sleeved black dress.

The president and first lady stood with their hands over their hearts as a bell tolled at 8:46 a.m. and a Marine bugler played "Taps."

The president and first lady were joined by his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, both of whom serve as advisers to the president. Other administration staff members present included chief of staff John Kelly, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, economic adviser Gary Cohn, White House counsel Don McGahn, deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and communications director Hope Hicks.

Trump offered no remarks during the brief White House event.