Trump honors 9/11 first responders — and plugs his political priorities

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday honored the heroes who bravely ran toward the danger during the September 11, 2001, terror attacks as the nation prepares to commemorate the day’s solemn 25th anniversary.

He also used the event near the White House in Washington, DC, to briefly plug some of his own priorities, including arguing for his war with Iran and comparing the danger officers faced during 9/11 to the threat of communism — one of his frequent digs at the Democratic Party ahead of the midterms.

A crowd of first responders from New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania, along with service members, Gold Star families and the families of fallen first responders gathered on the Ellipse, where a 21-foot, 13,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower was on display.

“When we see this steel, we’re reminded that no matter what threat or challenge comes our way, America will fight. America will endure, and America will prevail,” the president said.

Trump, a native New Yorker, recalled his own experience that day: “I saw things that I never want to see again.” He described a trip to Ground Zero in the days that followed as “raw.”

The steel beam, which has traveled from Lower Manhattan to key sites — including the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, where then-President George W. Bush was reading with second grade students when he learned the second tower had been hit — is part of a broader educational effort to teach Americans about the service and sacrifice of the heroes of 9/11. And it’s a reminder — as more Americans grow up who were either too young to remember the fatal day or not born yet — to never forget.

At the entrance to the event, images of more than 400 first responders who lost their lives provided a reminder of the sacrifice. Trump repeatedly praised the first responders, but also drew a comparison between the tragedy and the administration’s war with Iran, now in its seventh month.

“We’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon. They were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance of getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Trump also posthumously honored Welles Crowther with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Known as the “man in the red bandana,” Crowther, an equity trader and volunteer firefighter, made three trips to the South Tower’s 78th floor lobby to help guide people to safety before the tower collapsed. Trump quipped during his speech that the fallen hero had “become more famous than me. I don’t like it.”

The president recognized some of the officials in the audience, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — who at the time of the attack was the president of Cantor Fitzgerald, which had offices in the World Trade Center and lost 658 employees, including Lutnick’s brother.

Lutnick has come under scrutiny in recent days after the secretary falsely asserted in a CNBC interview that no Americans had died during the war with Iran. Trump preemptively sought to downplay the remark on Truth Social last week, and Lutnick later apologized for the comment.

“He’s got some faults, but overall, he’s excellent,” Trump said Tuesday.

The president’s speech also briefly veered political as he heralded the nation’s law enforcement, suggesting that they are responsible for protecting the country from threats — including communism, repeating a theme he’s used to attack Democrats on the campaign trail.

“Our law enforcement holds our country together in light of some threats. We have some very real threats right now. We have people that want to go a different way, they want to go a communistic way. Well, that’s not going to work,” he said.

Trump is not expected to travel to New York City on Friday for anniversary ceremonies at the World Trade Center, but will mark the moment at the Pentagon. Trump is not attending the World Trade Center ceremony in part because he wants to deliver remarks, people familiar with his plans said. Politicians have not been permitted to speak at the event in New York since 2012.

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CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.