Lip reader decodes Trump's emotional three-word remark to Melania at Pentagon's 9/11 memorial
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: It was a rare, raw moment from Donald Trump on Thursday at the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial.
Turning to first lady Melania Trump, the president uttered words that a lip reader says carried the weight of the tragedy.
Speaking to the Irish Star, lip reader Nicola Hickling said that Trump leaned in and told his wife, “I just remembered they're naming the people dying in the building. It's crushing to hear this now. Just imagine it.”
The exchange happened as Americans across the country marked the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with tributes, community service, and private remembrances.
9/11 memorials held across the nation
Nearly 3,000 lives were lost that day in 2001. Family members of the victims gathered alongside dignitaries and politicians at services in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
James Lynch, who lost his father Robert Lynch in the World Trade Center attacks, said his family would first attend a ceremony near their New Jersey hometown before spending the rest of the day at the beach.
"It's one of those things where any kind of grief, I don't think it ever goes away," Lynch admitted while volunteering with his partner and mother at a Manhattan 9/11 charity event the day before the anniversary, as quoted by the Associated Press. Thousands joined them in preparing meals for those in need.
Lynch added that his healing has come through perspective. “Finding the joy in that grief, I think, has been a huge part of my growth with this," he said.
Across the ceremonies, moments of silence froze time at the exact hours when hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers, when the towers collapsed, and when Flight 93 went down in a Pennsylvania field. At the Pentagon, tributes honored the 184 lives lost there when hijackers turned a jetliner into the military headquarters.
Charlie Kirk's death casts a shadow
This year’s anniversary landed in the middle of political tensions. Just a day before, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a Utah college.
Kirk’s shooting death sparked tighter security at the 9/11 memorial site in New York. Authorities confirmed extra measures were in place.
Trump himself addressed the tragedy, insisting that his supporters honor Kirk’s memory peacefully. “He was an advocate of nonviolence. That's the way I'd like to see people respond,” the president said.
Reporters pressed Trump on whether he feared for his own safety after Kirk’s killing as he departed the White House for New York on Thursday afternoon.
"Not really," the MAGA leader replied. “I'm really concerned for our country. We have a great country. We have a radical left group of lunatics out there, just absolute lunatics, and we're going to get that problem solved. I'm only concerned for the country.”
Meanwhile, the FBI is running a massive manhunt for Kirk’s shooter. Officials said Thursday they’ve recovered what they believe to be the murder weapon and identified the suspect as a college-aged individual.
Authorities released images of a person of interest and slapped a reward of up to $100,000 on the table for anyone who can help identify and arrest the killer.
