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Moment of Silence Marks Time World Trade Center South Tower Collapsed; Observing 25 Years Since the Worst Terror Attack on U.S. Soil; Four Former President Attend New York 9/11 Memorial, Trump at Pentagon. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 11, 2026 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my cousin, Firefighter Christopher A. Santora. Excuse me. God bless all our firefighters.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: So, you're hearing there the moment of silence and now the reading of the names, a solemn remembrance of the moment the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. And as we have been doing all morning long, we are showing how the country is uniting today, 25 years after 9/11.

Let's go live now to CNN Anchor Kate Bolduan at Liberty Park overlooking the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. Kate, 25 years later, this tragedy still resonates so deeply with so many Americans.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: For so many, and the promise is always to never forget. It looks like we're seeing Yo-Yo Ma playing once again. The promise of never forget.

You remember it's a day to remember, and also remind. Remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost on that day. To remind of the heroism of the first responders and all of those who ran towards danger when all human instinct should be to run away from that horror, and also to remind of the thousands and thousands of the long tail of 9/11, the thousands and thousands of people who have been suffering from and died and perished from 9/11-related illnesses in the aftermath, which is what also adds to what makes this anniversary, 25 years later, unique. There have always been six moments of silence for the four planes, when the towers fall, and when the towers fell.

And now the seventh moment, after the reading of the names, will be a bell tolled for all of the victims who have suffered from 9/11-related illnesses since. And that is not only new and unique, but it's also unique, as our colleague, Brynn Gingras, heard from a recovery worker down on the plaza this morning, that she's there to hear that because she knows that one day that bell will toll for her.

That's really sticking with me today as we think about all of this and reflect on the hard truths and lessons learned of, from that day and the 25 years since, and also just to remember the heroism of the first responders and what they did and how many lives they did save with their courage. We've seen at this ceremony, Wolf and Pam, we've seen all of the living former presidents in attendance. Clintons, the Bushes, Obamas, the Bidens are here as well. Vice President J.D. Vance has been here, I've seen in the images we've been able to see, sitting next to and standing next to Mike Bloomberg.

So, we have the dignitaries, but it isn't about -- it's more about the people, the families standing around this beautiful, somber plaza, the roses left, and all of the young children who are learning about this as a moment in history without a lived experience from this day.

And that seems to be a unique thing about this one, is how many -- how much lessons there are from this to learn and teach the younger generation. Back to you.

BROWN: So many lessons. Kate Bolduan, thank you so much. And we take you now to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as we pause to remember the 40 passengers and crew on United Flight 93.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jane C. Folger.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Very moving moments indeed. This is in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a very sad moment indeed. 25 years later, Pamela, we're remembering what happened on that day, and it's, both of us, we remember it very, very vividly.

BROWN: Yes, I remember it so vividly. I was in high school and it just left an indelible mark on me as I watched the images on T.V., not fully being able to understand or comprehend what was happening.

And I know it's personal for you as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: I couldn't -- I remember getting that call at 8:00, 8:30 in the morning. You got to get to the bureau right away, downtown Washington. And I got into my car, and I started driving, but everybody in Washington was seeing what was going on in New York, at the Pentagon.

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They thought there were going to be additional attacks on the Capitol, on the White House, federal buildings in Washington, and everybody was leaving their offices, getting in their cars and leaving. I couldn't get close to our bureau here, our CNN bureau. I had to leave my car maybe a mile away, and I just walked all the way here because so many thousands and thousands of Washingtonians were leaving the city out of fear that the whole city was about to be attacked.

BROWN: Yes, understandably. And one of the places that actually was attacked was right outside of D.C. in Arlington, the Pentagon. And we want to go back there because that is where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is making remarks.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Indeed, is the price of freedom. There are still enemies who hate us. Every day, enemies plot to curb our power and kill our citizens, including from Islamic terrorists abroad and at home. But we are ever vigilant, especially this place, especially these people.

Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11, a regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But they did not factor in this president. United States has killed their leaders, destroyed their air force, and their navy rests at the bottom of the sea. Their defenses are gone. We're still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean where they belong. And we're ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The economic pressure tightens every day. We control the strait. We will finish this fight.

But we also know, as the scripture says, the world will always have war and rumors of war. And so the fight goes on. And so we raise up a new generation of strong, brave warriors who will say, when it matters most, Send me, or as they said on Flight 93, Todd Beamer's favorite, famous words, let's roll.

The top 1 percent of Americans, those that wear the uniform, still s- keep the watch. We all sleep in peace because we know they stand ready. We honor the fallen of that day 25 years ago by living worthy of their legacy today, and for 250 more years.

We have faith in our warriors, but we also have faith that there is one who keeps watch over us. And scripture tells it that the Lord is our fortress and our shield. The Lord trains our arms for war and our hands for battle. Strengthened by faith in Almighty God, we will continue to defeat our enemies and protect this republic just as the heroes and the warriors of 9/11 did. Because in this nation, in God we trust. In this land, in this place, on that day, and still today, and amen.

It is now a great honor to introduce the great commander-in-chief of our nation, the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rice, First Lady of the United States, Chairman Caine, members of the United States military, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans 25 times we have gathered at this hallowed place and at Ground Zero in New York and a lonely field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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In 25 years, a generation has passed since the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001. Yet time has not dimmed the honor of that day when our country came face-to-face with true evil. At 8:20 A.M. on a cloudless Tuesday morning, a beautiful day it was, American Airlines Flight 77 took off 25 miles from here, bound for Los Angeles. On board were three 11-year-old students heading on a cross-country field trip, a father and a mother with their two young daughters bound for international adventure, and a flight attendant whose mind was elsewhere. She had just learned that she was expecting her first child and was so excited to tell her mom and dad.

Here at the Pentagon, a Navy airman had just gotten off the phone with his ten-year-old son. A secretary was celebrating her 46th birthday. So happy she was. A sergeant major was chatting with some colleagues he had hosted for a dinner party over the weekend. At 9:37 A.M., every single one of those people and every person at that sergeant major's party was murdered by terrorists who flew Flight 77 straight into this legendary building. It is indeed a legendary building. So many wars have been won from this building.

With the events of that morning, 2,977 beautiful souls were ripped from our world, and many more died in the weeks and years after horrible, grotesque injuries so many were sustained.

Today, we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard, we fight to win.

We will always remember the victims and the families of September 11th, 2001, very famous date, unfortunately, and it started out as such a beautiful day. We will honor their lives. We will cherish their beautiful memories. And we will protect this country and its freedoms for every future generation. We will protect it like never before.

For anyone who lived it, no words can do justice to the anguish of that day. After the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, Patrick Danahey left a message to comfort his beautiful wife, Mary, letting her know he was safe inside his office on the South Tower's 90th floor.

Mary was eight months pregnant and playing with their two young daughters when she heard Patrick's voice. She loved him so much. She called back, turned on the T.V., the line rang, and then it went completely dead. Very unusual, she felt. Mary fell to her knees as she watched United Flight 175 explode by her husband's office. She saw it right by the office. She knew exactly where the office was, right by the office.

Seven floors up, Shimmy Biegeleisen laid down on the carpet by his desk to escape the smoke. It was horrible, surrounded by photos of his beautiful five children. He was on the phone with his wife, Miriam, praying to God when the television showed her the dreadful image.

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Things were happening that she couldn't imagine. The South Tower was collapsing with her husband, and she loved him so much, inside.

Free people must never avert their eyes from such hideous cruelty. We cannot forget that moment of immense and horrible evil that took place in this world, bent on the destruction of all that is good.

But this morning, we also remember how America responded to that wickedness. On days like 9/11, we learn what a country is truly made of. We're learning right now what we're made of, and we have to be strong, and we have to be smart. And Americans are made of a goodness and spirit that can transcend any earthly force, and that's what we're doing better than anyone else has ever been able to do it, because we are sustained by a supreme strength far more powerful than steel alone.

Aboard Flight 93 in the skies over Pennsylvania, a brave flight attendant boiled water to fight back. A loving father from New Jersey, Todd Beamer, asked a telephone operator in Illinois to join him in the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. And then he said his last words, let's roll.

Today, as we remember the many lives lost on 9/11, we also give thanks for the countless lives saved by the immortal heroes of Flight 93. In those harrowing days after the attacks, we saw the authentic spirit of our nation. We were all New Yorkers that day, every one of us. We were all New Yorkers. But we were also all Americans. We were all family. We were all patriots. The enemy might destroy what American hands had built, but we could not touch the fight and the fire and the love in our great American hearts.

At the Pentagon on September 12th, General James Jackson ordered up the largest flag in the military's collection, and they think in the military's history. First responders climbed to top the walls and hung it next to the gaping holes in this building as a symbol of American defiance. This morning, that same flag is here to my right for the first time since 2001, along with three firefighters who raised it, Joseph Morabito, Scott Morgan, and Carl Sahlberg.

Please stand.

25 years after the attacks, we know the world will never return to the way it was at that dawn on that beautiful, peaceful Tuesday morning, 2001. Before the towers fell, before the Pentagon was hit, before the specter of evil and this horrible, horrible evil came crashing into our lives before we saw what took place in Pennsylvania.

Innocence is expecting the future to be good because you have not yet really been tested. We've been tested many times. We're being tested today, and we're winning that test very handily. Faith is still believing in that future, even after you have seen the absolute worst, things that you never thought possible to see.

In the generation since 9/11, American sons and daughters have traveled to the darkest corners of the earth and done battle with a shadowy enemy, so that our children might once again know carefree days and cloudless skies.

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For 25 years, our best and bravest have kept America safe, and today we salute every member of the United States military who served in the war on terror. It is a war on sick, horrible terror.

We salute our first responders and law enforcement. And we love them, and we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.

A generation after 9/11, we also know that the final response to those atrocities and the ultimate victory over the perpetrators will not be found on a foreign battlefield. It's right here in the hearts of families like Tara Stackpole's. Tara's husband, Timmy, was a great firefighter, even a legendary one.

After surviving a five-alarm fire in Brooklyn that burned 40 percent of his body in 1998, he spent three years recovering, learned to walk again, and returned to the job. That's all he wanted to do is he just wanted to fight fires. He said, the greatest high you can ever get in life is by helping someone and making a difference, especially when it came to his profession, a dangerous profession at that.

On September 11th, the New York Daily News carried a story announcing his promotion to captain in the New York City Fire Department. He was so proud. His wife, his family was so proud. Captain Stackpole said goodbye to Tara and their five beautiful children that morning. And when the planes hit a short time later, he responded, leading a team into the unbelievably unusual sight of a South Tower that was burning.

They lost their lives when the towers fell. Somehow, Tara found the strength to be a rock, not only for her kids, but for the countless members of a very grieving fire department. So many people were grieving. They were devastated like never before. And in the years that followed, she raised those children to know, love, and follow the example of their dad, who just was not there with them any longer.

Today, their son, Kevin, is a Navy veteran, and a brave one at that. He's had his moments. They were very, very big, perhaps not like his father, but they were very big and very proud, and everyone's very proud of Kevin. He served in Iraq and is raising four beautiful children of his own.

Their son, T.J., became a captain in the Marines after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. Brian is raising two kids. Caitlin is raising three, including a ten-year-old named Timmy. And Brendan is a proud member of his dad's old company, Fire Department New York Rescue 2. That's quite a company, too. I grew up in New York. I can tell you, that's quite a company.

The Stackpole family is here today. Tara, Kevin, T.J., Brendan, Caitlin, and Timmy, please stand. Please.

He's looking down on you. He's very proud of you. Thank you.

No one can ever prepare for a day like 9/11, but we can always choose to be the kind of nation the world saw in those days after. We can build families, like the Stackpoles. We can raise our children to know that their country is good, that their fathers are brave, and that our flag is a symbol of justice and freedom. [10:25:03]

And we can be a nation whose heroes are not fanatics for an abstract cause. They don't even know really what they're doing, but the kind who race into buildings and give their lives on a Tuesday morning for strangers they've never met, people they didn't know, gave their lives.

And we can fill the lives of our children with light and love that will sustain them against any trial and transcend any darkness whenever that darkness may come. As scripture tells us, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

September 11th reminded us of the terrible power of hate. The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail, and to win. And today, our country is stronger than it has ever been before. It has never been as strong as it is right now.

Because of that spirit, when future generations come here in 25, 100 or 250 years from now, they will stand in a nation that is free and unyielding in the face of evil, and they will still honor the heroes of 9/11, 2001, who no age will erase from the memory of time. It will never, ever be forgotten, will never be forgotten, and we can never forget.

God bless our 9/11 families. God bless our unbelievable, brave, and beautiful first responders. God bless the United States military, and God bless America. Thank you very much.

BROWN: All right, there you heard President Trump speaking on 25 years since 9/11, honoring the victims there at the Pentagon, and tying today to the Iran war, saying that the fight continues. Wolf?

BLITZER: And the United States, he says, has never been stronger than it is right now. He spoke at length about the lessons learned that he's learned from 9/11 and what it means today. He went into details on that.

We're going to be going now soon to another moment of silence, remembering the North Tower collapsing 10:28 A.M. that Tuesday morning.

BLITZER: Yes, that's right. There are seven moments of silence today, now honoring as well those who died after 9/11. But we want to go ahead to this moment of silence on the North Tower collapse, where they're honoring those victims who died and reading the names as well.

So, let's just all take a moment together and pause for this moment of remembrance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frederick Joseph Hoffman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michelle L. Hoffman.

BLITZER: All right, I want to go back to CNN's Kate Bolduan. She's over at Liberty Park right near where the World Trade Center was. Kate, set the scene for us. What's going on?

BOLDUAN: We all just experienced another moment of silence. There'll be more to come on that. And one of the things about, I had the opportunity, guys ahead of today to speak with two filmmakers, Jules and Gideon Naudet. They are documentarians, but they became accidental documentarians to this tragic, horrible moment in history.

They were following a rookie firefighter. They had been filming for weeks. And on that day, they captured what no one else did.

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They have the single image that they captured as they were on a routine call.