Trump to spend 9/11 anniversary as ringside commentator at casino boxing match in Florida

On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, President Joe Biden is visiting the three sites hit by the terror attacks. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush paid tribute to victims at Ground Zero in New York City and the Pennsylvania field where Flight 93 crashed, respectively.

Former president Donald Trump will be in Florida to attend a boxing match at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. Mr Trump is lined up as a ringside commentator at the event featuring David Haye and Evander Holyfield, along with his son Donald Trump Jr.

Some 2,996 people died on September 11, 2001 when four commercial planes were hijacked by terrorists, making it the deadliest terrorist attack to have ever happened on American soil.

Mr Trump’s plans to spend the sombre anniversary at a boxing match were met with disgust and resignation.

“It feels like a parody of the kind of thing that Donald Trump would do, but it is perfectly fitting for this disgraced ex-president, essentially exiled from polite society, to spend this solemn occasion doing boxing commentary on pay-per-view,” MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes said on his show.

Mr Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, who has long been publicly critical of her uncle, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she found his decision “disgraceful.”

“Does it surprise you even by his low standard?” Mr Cooper asked Ms Trump. “If another former president decided to spend 9/11 commenting on a boxing match on pay-per-view, people would … their heads would explode.”

“That’s been the problem all along,” she said in response. “For reasons that are very difficult to understand. There is a completely different standard that Donald‘s held to. In fact, he‘s held to no standard.“

“It’s disgraceful,” she added.

On social media, people were also unimpressed by Mr Trump’s plans.

“Doing commentary on novelty boxing matches seems like exactly the kind of thing Donald Trump would be doing in a world where he DIDN’T become president” wrote Twitter user Alex McClintock. Another individual, Jordan Elgott, commented: “We live in an unbelievable world.”

Pete Dominick added: “Trump is narrating a fight on 9/11 which is good because we’d rather not have his commentary on 9/11.”

Mr Trump was expected to visit the 9/11 Memorial in New York on Saturday, but instead paid a brief visit to New York City Police Department officers at the 17th precinct, where he hinted that he would run for office again in 2024.

He is also expected to deliver an address via video at the Let Us Worship event on the National Mall in Washington DC.

This story has been updated to reflect Mr Trump’s schedule