Democrat President Joe Biden has left families of 9/11 victims outraged by skipping the memorial sites on the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
In a major snub to the victims and their families, Biden broke tradition to become the first U.S. president to neither spend the day at an attack site nor at the White House.
Instead, the White House sent Vice President Kamala Harris to New York City to attend events at the National September 11 Memorial.
Biden has been too busy meeting with foreign leaders to visit any of the attack sites this year.
However, some families argued that Biden isn’t welcome at the commemoration events.
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Donald Arias, who lost his brother Adam during the attacks, said that Biden’s snub was unsurprising.
“It’s no surprise to me that he’s not coming to Ground Zero or any of the 9/11 sites,” Arias told “Fox & Friends First” on Monday.
“And quite frankly, I prefer he stay away anyway.
“We will be spared one of his stories of how he can relate like he did with the people of Lahaina, how he can relate because of a kitchen fire.
“We can do without that.”
Biden is currently traveling back to Washington, D.C. following a trip overseas to India and Vietnam.
He is set to speak later today at a ceremony at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where his plane will make a stop.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed in a statement that Biden felt it was “very important” to give a speech in Alaska while traveling back from his globalist trip.
“[President Biden] plans to honor the lives lost and the families of loved ones who still feel the pain of the terrible day,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
“This is something he feels is very important to do.
“We can only imagine the heartbreak and pain that the 9/11 families have felt every day for the past 22 years.”
Terry Strada, who lost her husband Tom at the World Trade Center, slammed Biden’s snub.
She criticized Biden’s decision as “the opposite of what we’ve all pledged to never forget.”
“He is now just saying that flippantly that he doesn’t have to come to any of the sites and commemorate the loss with the families. That’s terrible,” she continued.
Strada serves as chair of 9/11 Families United, a coalition of families and survivors of the terrorist attack that shook the nation.
Together, they campaign to keep the memory of the 9/11 victims alive while calling for full transparency surrounding the events of that day.
Matt Bocchi, the son of 9/11 victim John Bocchi, called Biden’s departure from tradition evidence of the “unfortunate reality” of the country’s climate 22 years later.
“If our leader is so willing to not show up to the memorial service, it’s showing the message that Americans have forgotten and that it’s OK to forget,” he said Monday.
“Unfortunately for myself and for all the other families and those joining with us this morning, we have no way of forgetting.
“This is something that forever changed our lives and this is something that we’re going to live with forever, even if the rest of the country can let this be a day that they do forget.”
The 9/11 attacks carried out by al Qaeda terrorists under the thumb of Osama bin Laden claimed the lives of 2,977 victims.
The events changed the national security and foreign policy landscape for decades to come.
