Nation marks 24 years since 9/11 with ceremonies in NYC, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was CEO at Cantor Fitzgerald on Sept. 11, 2001, which was located in the World Trade Center North Tower and more than 650 employees died, described to CNBC his own "harrowing" experience that day. 

"I ran my tail off, dressed like this, running with that big sort of black cloud chasing me. And then I dove under a car. But it was. Yeah, it was harrowing, to say the least," Lutnick said. 

Lutnick said he would have been at Cantor Fitzgerald's offices on the 100th floor and above but he had been dropping his son off at kindergarten. Lutnick then said he drove down after the plane first hit the building, and that he was in the doorway of the North Tower when the other tower collapsed.

The annual reading of the names at Ground Zero concluded shortly before 1 p.m., four hours after it began.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was among the mourners gathered at Ground Zero, along with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, former Gov. George Pataki, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, and former Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino could also be seen in the crowd. 

Hochul directed more than a dozen state landmarks, including One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, to be illuminated with blue lights Thursday in observance.

"Today I join the world in remembering the nearly 3,000 souls taken on 9/11, the people who went to work and never came home, and the brave heroes - uniformed and otherwise - who ran toward danger to save others," the governor said in a statement.

"Many of our enemies, foreign and domestic, thought we were going to collapse as a country, but we got up 9/12," Adams said before the ceremony. "Teachers taught, builders built. We showed the globe our resiliency, even in the midst of pain."

Adams' mayoral opponents, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, were also in attendance, while Republican Curtis Sliwa was scheduled to visit a different 9/11 tribute in the Rockaways. 

President Trump was initially slated to deliver his 9/11 speech Wednesday morning right outside the Pentagon building, but the speech was moved to the interior Pentagon courtyard instead. 

A senior administration official said the location change was made "out of an abundance of caution" in the wake of the outdoor shooting of Charlie Kirk Wednesday.

President Trump issued a proclamation on Thursday declaring Sept. 11, 2025, as "Patriot Day 2025," declaring that "we renew our resolve to ensure that we never again face such a ruthless attack." 

"September 11, 2001, will forever live in the collective consciousness of those who witnessed four commercial jetliners converted into weapons of terror to target innocent Americans on a beautiful Tuesday morning in September, 24 years ago," the proclamation says. 

Congress in Dec. 2001 declared Sept. 11 as Patriot Day. In this proclamation for Patriot Day 2025, Mr. Trump called on flags to be flown half-staff. 

Flags are already being flown half-staff to honor Charlie Kirk. 

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump watched as a wreath was laid at the Pentagon. The president also signed a guest book to mark his visit. 

In a video posted to social media, Rubio said that 24 years after the terrorist attacks, Americans see how much their lives have changed since then. 

"I think there was a pre-9/11 America and a post-9/11 America," Rubio said. "And so much changed in our lives from one day to the next, from how we travel to how we view events in our own country."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took to the podium to offer his commemoration of the day, offering a criticism of the handling of foreign wars in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. 

Hegseth said an "entire generation of warriors" stepped forward, "willing to pay the ultimate price to exact retribution and secure our country."

"Forged in the crucibles of Afghanistan and Iraq, we stood watch in distant lands, on dangerous missions, often, in retrospect, nebulous missions. All to secure our people. And so we could live in peace."

He called war "an enduring aspect of the human condition" and a tool best used to punish enemies "intent on terrorizing or subjugating our nation." But he added, "War must not become a mere tool for global social work …. we should hit hard, wreak vengeance, and return home." 

"We best honor their memory and the memory of 9/11 by learning the correct lessons of that day and the decade of courage that followed," he added. 

President Trump recalled the horrors of that day, but said what happened after showed the character of the American spirit. 

"In America, we take blows but we never buckle," the president said. "We bleed but we do not bow. And we defy the fear, endure the flames and emerge from the crucible of every hardship stronger, prouder and greater than ever before."  

The president also remembered the stories of Americans who gave their lives for others that day, including firefighters and everyday Americans. 

"That day we lived that the American heroic spirit was all around us," he said. 

President Trump began his remarks by expressing the "horror and grief" he and other Americans have over the "heinous assassination" of conservative figure Charlie Kirk on Wednesday. 

"Before we begin, let me express the horror and grief so many Americans at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk are felt," Mr. Trump said. "Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people. Our prayers are with his wonderful wife Erika and his beautiful children. Fantastic people, they are."

He continued, "We miss him greatly yet I have no doubt that Charlie's voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on. I'm pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously the Medal of Freedom."

The president said the date of the ceremony will be announced, and he's sure there will be a very big crowd. 

The attendees at the Pentagon ceremony, including the Trumps, held a moment of silence for the lives lost. The minute of silence represented the minute of impact, when Flight 77 ripped through the west wall of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.

The first lady held her hand over her heart, while the president saluted. 

The president, first lady and other attendees sat in silence as military officials read the names of the fallen at the Pentagon. The plane that crashed into the Pentagon killed 125 people at the Pentagon. The 59 passengers aboard also died. 

Boston is holding a remembrance ceremony to recognize the 206 people from Massachusetts who were killed in the terrorist attacks. A moment of silence and a reading of the 206 names is marking the occasion.

American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, which both took off from Boston's Logan Airport, were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New York City.

President Trump has arrived at the Pentagon for the remembrance event. He and first lady Melania Trump are expected to lay a wreath before the official ceremony begins.

The ceremony in New York began at 8:46 a.m., when there was a moment of silence to mark the time the first plane hit the North Tower. 

Families of those killed on Sept. 11 began reading the names of the victims at 8:48 a.m.

There will be five other moments of silence, one at 9:03 a.m. to mark when the second plane hit the South Tower, then one at 9:37 a.m. when the Pentagon was struck and then the fourth one will be at 9:59 a.m., when the South Tower collapsed. There will be a fifth moment of silence at 10:03 a.m. marking when the hijacked plane in Shanksville crashed and then finally, one at 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower collapsed.  

Vice President JD Vance will no longer go to New York on Thursday, a source said. Vance and second lady Usha Vance will instead travel to Utah, where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an event at Utah Valley University.

The Vances will pay their respects to Kirk's family in Salt Lake City.