Cameras caught an 80-year-old Trump appearing to drift off during a solemn Pentagon ceremony honoring 2,977 people who died on 9/11

Donald Trump faced online criticism after cameras appeared to catch him nodding off during a ceremony at the Pentagon honoring victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks. As detailed by LADbible, the 80-year-old president was seen in a state that many viewers described as drifting off while attending the Virginia event. This marked his second consecutive year choosing the Pentagon site for the anniversary rather than the official ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York.

Trump’s decision to skip the Ground Zero site stems from a policy at the New York memorial, in place since 2012, that prohibits political figures from addressing the crowd. Because the Pentagon ceremony allows for a speaker to address attendees, it has become the venue Trump prefers for the day’s observances. Vice President JD Vance attended the New York ceremony instead, appearing alongside former presidents at an event that unfolded amid renewed attention to terrorism 25 years later.

Footage of the president during the ceremony quickly spread online, prompting a wave of reactions. One viewer wrote, “Watching the 9/11 memorial and Trump is asleep,” while another said he was “literally falling asleep at the wheel at the Pentagon Ceremony.” It was not the first time such claims had circulated, as Trump was previously observed appearing to doze during a press conference in November 2025, and online theories have suggested a staff member is sometimes on hand to help keep him alert during high-profile events.

Trump’s own account of that day has drawn its own scrutiny

Trump’s claims about his personal experience on September 11 have also come under scrutiny this week. Speaking at an event held earlier in the week by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, he said two firemen helped him exit a creaking building at Ground Zero on the day of the attacks, describing the structure as feeling like it was about to collapse on top of them. He also claimed he brought a large crew of construction workers to the site to help with recovery efforts in the aftermath.

Those claims were met with skepticism, including from his own nephew, 63-year-old Fred Trump III, who wrote on X that the claim about bringing a construction crew “so offends me that I need to speak out,” arguing that the only employees Trump could have brought were from accounting or secretarial roles rather than physical labor. Trump defended his account on Truth Social, writing that he was there “not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers,” and insisting his statements were accurate.

The 25th anniversary of the attacks occurred under an elevated security posture, with federal authorities warning of potential threats from foreign terrorist organizations. Ceremonies were held at the Pentagon, Ground Zero, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and for the first time organizers included a seventh moment of silence honoring those who have died from 9/11-related illness deaths, which have claimed roughly 9,000 lives over the past 25 years.

The ceremonies continued their traditional format of reading victims’ names, holding moments of silence, and laying wreaths.