Kamala lands in New York for the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 at Ground Zero – while Biden will mark the day 4,300 miles away in Alaska

Vice President Kamala Harris stepped off Air Force Two in New York City Monday morning to mark the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero.

It is tradition for the president to spend September 11 at one of the three locations where planes crashed in 2001, killing thousands of Americans.

So Harris steps in to honor the Americans who died that day at the ceremony in New York City.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden left Vietnam Monday morning to spend just two hours in Anchorage, Alaska, where he spoke with service members and first responders at a military base 4,500 miles from where terrorists dropped planes into the World Trade Center 22 years ago crash.

Biden’s plans on Monday mark the first time a president has not attended one of the anniversary services at Ground Zero, the Pentagon or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, or at least hosted a memorial service at the White House, where Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama each did this during one year of their terms.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is spending the day flying back from Vietnam with a two-hour layover in Alaska, where he will meet with military personnel and first responders. This is the first time a president has spent September 11 outside of Washington DC or the three crash sites

The president’s stop in Alaska on Monday coincides with a refueling stop as Biden returns from a five-day trip to India and Vietnam.

Also on Monday, Biden held a bizarre news conference in Vietnam, where he again highlighted some of the potential liabilities that some Democrats are worried about due to concerns about his age and performance.

It featured a series of strange moments, including when Biden called reporters from a prepared list. His press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also closed the event, returning to briefly address reporters as jazz music played over a sound system.

He told a long story about a John Wayne movie where he talked about cowboys and “Indians,” and then went back to a story about the phrase “lying dog-faced pony soldiers” that he used then and has used before.

The White House released Biden’s September 11 schedule Sunday evening, after the president spent two days in New Delhi, India for the G20 leaders’ summit and then traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, when the United States’ diplomatic status with the Asian nation was increased.

Starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday, the Biden White House installed a 9/11 Memorial on the North Portico.

Biden will not commemorate the terrorist attacks until he lands in Alaska – hours after the Twin Towers were hit 22 years earlier.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shared only vague details about how Biden would mark the solemn anniversary once the Vietnam leg of the Asia trip was added.

VP Harris’ schedule was also vague, noting only that she would spend the morning attending the annual September 11 commemoration ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.

The ceremony is held every year at Ground Zero to honor the nearly 3,000 deaths on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is typically the refueling stop for Air Force One. The stops there usually last about 90 minutes, because the president’s plane is filled with gasoline.

It is tradition for presidents to spend September 11 at one of three crash sites – New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – or hold a ceremony at the White House

Jean-Pierre was asked last month whether there had been any discussions about scheduling the Vietnam leg of the trip before the president arrived in India, in an effort not to miss the day at one of the three places where the planes fly crashed.

“So look, we’ll – we’ll have more on this – on September 11th in Alaska. As you men – as you just said, I explained – announced that,” she said.

“Look, the president wanted to make sure that as president he did something to commemorate 9/11. And that’s what you see. You see the president doing that,” Jean-Pierre continued. ‘We will certainly share more details. I just don’t have anything outside of that anymore.’