After breaking from an over two-decade tradition, President Biden was met with criticism for his 9/11 speech at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. On "Fox & Friends" Tuesday, FOX News contributor Tulsi Gabbard told Pete Hegseth that the president turned his back on the American people and victims' families by choosing not to visit the attack sites.
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TULSI GABBARD: The president decided not to show up at any of the sites that were attacked on 9/11, basically turning his back on all of the families who were there, who had lost loved ones, turning his back on our fellow Americans, people like you and I, who are motivated to join the military because of 9/11 and then to go and deliver this speech in Alaska that I personally found many parts of it to be quite offensive, where he chose to lecture the American people, saying, you all, we all have a responsibility to defend democracy, that we have to stand united. This is coming from a guy who has done nothing but divide America since the day that he took office. And as he is telling us, we have to defend democracy, we Americans, while he and his administration are doing everything they possibly can to undermine our democracy and undermine our fundamental freedoms that are enshrined in the Constitution. The hypocrisy is deafening.
Biden, who was returning to Washington, D.C. following a trip overseas to India and Vietnam, delivered remarks at a ceremony at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, while Vice President Kamala Harris, among other elected officials, attended events at the National September 11 Memorial in New York City.
The president's decision, however, departed from tradition and made him the first U.S. president in 22 years to neither spend the day at an attack site nor the White House.
"[President Biden] plans to honor the lives lost and the families of loved ones who still feel the pain of the terrible day," press secretary Karine 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."
Despite the White House's defense, President Biden has been widely criticized for forgoing a visit to one of the 9/11 attack sites.
Terry Strada, who lost her husband Tom at the World Trade Center, 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.
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FOX News' Taylor Penley, Greg Norman, Bradford Betz and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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