Biden, Harris and Trump visit Sep 11 site in New York

“On this day 23 years ago, terrorists believed they could break our will and bring us to our knees. They were wrong. They will always be wrong. In the darkest of hours, we found light. And in the face of fear, we came together – to defend our country, and to help one another,” Biden said in an early morning statement.

Trump, who planned to visit the Pennsylvania memorial on Wednesday, told Fox News: “It was very, very sad, horrible day. There’s never been anything like it.”

Biden earlier issued a proclamation honouring those who died as a result of the attacks, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Americans who volunteered for military service afterwards.

“We owe these patriots of the 9/11 Generation a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay,” Biden said, citing deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and other war zones, as well as the capture and killing of September 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and his deputy