Donald and Melania Trump Make Rare Appearance for Pentagon's 9/11 Ceremony: Watch

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made a rare joint appearance together as they traveled to the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial ceremony.

Video shows the 80-year-old president, one day after urging supporters to "cheat" at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, leading Melania, 56, out of the White House.

Melania Trump’s relatively limited public appearances, combined with growing scrutiny of President Trump’s close aide Natalie Harp, have fueled renewed attention on the first couple’s marriage.

Melania has maintained a relatively low public profile during her husband’s second term, making only sporadic appearances alongside the president. Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews has claimed that Melania would only attend certain events if she were paid, though that allegation has not been independently verified.

The first lady has also reportedly spent significant time away from Washington, with critics and biographers claiming she has shown little interest in some of the traditional public-facing duties associated with the role. Recent reporting has noted that Melania has appeared in public far less frequently than during Donald’s first term.

She has also spent about 14 days in total at the White House since Donald moved back in in January 2025.

Donald and Melania curiously chose to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the Pentagon while every other living president attended the ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City.

The reason for Trump’s decision, reported weeks earlier, was never formally announced. However, multiple reports said one factor was that he wanted to deliver remarks, something politicians have not been permitted to do at the Ground Zero ceremony since 2012. Trump instead attended the Pentagon commemoration, where he was able to speak.

Critics also noted that Donald has a busy travel schedule around 9/11 — the two days prior, he was in Dallas for the "Trump-a-palooza" Republican midterm convention, where the president appeared to bribe Americans with a $5,000 "dividend" if Republicans hold the House and Senate. On September 12, he is due to fly to Doonbeg, Ireland, for the Irish Open golf tournament.

Donald has spent the days leading up to the 25th anniversary of 9/11 repeating claims that he was actively involved in the cleanup of Ground Zero, though there's no evidence that the claim is true.

He recently added a new flourish to a tale he's repeated multiple times over the past decade, which is that firefighters had to lift him up and drag him away from the rubble because they feared a nearby building would collapse.

Donald infamously called into a news network on the day of the attacks and erroneously remarked that his Trump Tower was now the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan after the Twin Towers fell.

To make matters worse, during his appearance at the Pentagon on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Donald appeared to sleep through a lengthy portion of the proceedings.

The president has a long history of struggling to stay awake through somber occasions, having previously napped through a Memorial Day ceremony and the funeral for his friend Senator Lindsey Graham.