Vance Says He's 'Really Looking Forward to Hanging Out With Joe Biden' at 9/11 Ceremony — Then Takes a Sarcastic Shot at the Former President

Vice President JD Vance will represent the Trump administration at the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony in New York City, while President Donald Trump stays in Washington for a Pentagon event. In his first solo press briefing, Vance used the moment to mock former President Joe Biden's mental acuity — a comment that quickly drew backlash given Biden's Stage IV cancer diagnosis.

WASHINGTON – The image is straightforward: "Vance 'really looking forward to hanging out with Joe Biden' at 9/11 ceremony." The quote is real. Vice President JD Vance said exactly that during a White House press briefing on September 3, 2026 .

But the full story — and the biting sarcasm behind the remark — reveals a far more politically charged moment.

Trump Stays Home, Vance Heads to New York

President Donald Trump will not attend the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City on September 11, 2026. Instead, Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration there .

Trump will commemorate the anniversary at the Pentagon, which was also targeted in the September 11 attacks . Other administration officials will represent the White House in Shanksville, Pennsylvania — ensuring all three locations affected by the attacks have a presence .

The decision has drawn considerable attention. All other living former presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton — will attend the Ground Zero ceremony in Lower Manhattan . Trump, a New York native, will be the only living president absent from the Manhattan event .

Why Is Trump Skipping Ground Zero?

Reports suggest Trump's decision stems from organizers' rules: no speeches are allowed at the Ground Zero ceremony, where the names of the nearly 3,000 victims are read aloud . Politico previously reported that Trump wanted to speak at the event but was refused .

Vance downplayed any deeper meaning during his press briefing. "I don't think it's a special security concern," he told reporters, though he added he would "follow up with Secret Service just to get you an actual answer on that" .

Instead, he framed the split appearance as simple logistics:

"I mean, you know, you have a vice president, you have a president [and] we'd like to be in three or four places on 9/11, but you can't have one person be in multiple locations at the exact same time. And so we just decided as a team that I would go to New York for 9/11 and the president would stay here in D.C., of course, to commemorate what happened at the Pentagon" .

The Joke at Biden's Expense

Initially, Vance struck a bipartisan tone. He called the 9/11 anniversary a moment to rediscover a "sense of commonality and common purpose" that Americans shared in the aftermath of the attacks .

But he quickly pivoted to a sarcastic jab directed at the former president:

"I'm really looking forward to hanging out with Joe Biden. I'm sure that we'll have many, many intense intellectual conversations, and you know, it'll be great. We'll have a great time with Joe Biden and the other presidents" .

The remark was widely interpreted as mocking Biden's age and mental acuity . Biden, 83, was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer in May 2025 . He completed radiation treatment in late October 2025 .

Social Media Reacts — And Not Kindly

Vance's comment drew swift condemnation on social media. Many users called the joke "out of line," given Biden's health struggles and the solemn nature of the 9/11 anniversary .

Some highlights:

• "JD Vance couldn't leave well enough alone and had to make sure people knew his real thoughts by making a joke at Biden's expense" .

This Isn't the First Time Vance Has Taken Aim at Biden's Health

Vance's remark follows a pattern. In May 2025, shortly after Biden's cancer diagnosis, Vance told reporters:

"I don't think he was able to do a good job for the American people. Of course, we wish the best for the former president's health. ... We really do need to be honest about whether the former President was capable of doing the job" .

In November 2025, Vance made an even more blunt comment during an interview with Sean Hannity:

"But if I served under Joe Biden, I'd probably be worried every minute of every day that he was going to croak and that I'd have to become president" .

What to Expect on September 11

The Ground Zero ceremony on September 11, 2026, will mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people across New York, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania . The solemn event features family members reading the names of loved ones — a tradition that has continued for two decades.

Vance said he is genuinely looking forward to the event itself, recalling a previous visit to Ground Zero during the 2024 campaign:

"As much as it's tragic and it was a terrible day, I am looking forward to it because it's such an amazing honor to be able to get to go to New York and to share in that moment where the parents and the kids read the names of the people who lost their lives" .

He encouraged Americans, particularly younger generations who don't remember 9/11, to tune in:

"It's one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I encourage every American, particularly the people who are young enough to not really remember that day, just to tune in for a couple of hours and see what it meant" .

The Bottom Line

The viral image accurately captures Vance's words. But the context — a solemn 9/11 remembrance, a sitting president skipping Ground Zero, and a sarcastic jab at a cancer-stricken former president — makes the story far more controversial than a single quote suggests.