NYT’s Haberman: Trump Is Skipping 9/11 Memorial in New York Because He Cannot Give a Speech

EXCERPT:

HABERMAN: "Correct. And actually talking about September 11th was a big part of his 2016 campaign. As you remember, as a lot of people remember, he spoke about it frequently. I think he made his first visit to the site, you know, in years during that campaign, not just for the ceremony, but I think he made a visit to the museum, if I remember correctly. Part of the reason that he is not going, there were other concerns as well, but what we reported was that, at least in part because he had wanted to speak. They don’t do speeches. They haven’t done speeches there. I think it was 2012 is when they — when they banned it. We had multiple sources on this. There were several reporters on it. It was quite airtight. We approached the White House, we got a benign comment, and we did not get any pushback. And then 24 hours later, the president very angrily denied it, so did his communications director. People can decide what they think about a denial that comes 24 hours later. Part of the reason he’s going to the Pentagon now — and there are, I believe, legitimate security concerns related to him, there’s no question, I don’t know that there’s actually a specific issue right now — one reason he’s leaving from Washington is because it is easier for him to get to his golf course in Ireland in Doonbeg, and he is going to see some tournament there right after his political convention. 9/11 falls in the middle. So, you know, again, his focus is on a number of things. But, you know, our reporting was quite solid."