Trump marks first 9/11 anniversary as leader

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the 16 years since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Donald Trump has evolved from a celebrity developer whose first public thoughts were about Manhattan’s suddenly altered skyline to the combative commander in chief who warned “savage killers” on Monday “there is no dark corner beyond our reach.”

Trump was in his Fifth Avenue penthouse that clear fall day in 2001, four miles from the World Trade Center and, seemingly, in a previous life from the one he now leads.

When the towers fell, he spoke with measured words about the attackers and about the wounds inflicted on his home town, a sharp contrast to his more recent incendiary rhetoric about terrorists and his unproven claims about celebrating Muslims.

On Monday, his first 9/11 anniversary as president, Trump carried out a sadly familiar ritual for U.S. leaders. He stood, head bowed and hands clasped, for a moment of silence at the White House to mark the instant that a hijacked airplane had slammed into the World Trade Center. Later, at the Pentagon, where another plane had crashed, he promised American resolve.

“The terrorists who attacked us thought they could incite fear and weaken our spirit,” Trump said. “But America cannot be intimidated, and those who try will join a long list of vanquished enemies who dared test our mettle.”

“American forces are relentlessly pursuing and destroying the enemies of all civilized people,” he said. “We are making plain to these savage killers that there is no dark corner beyond our reach, no sanctuary beyond our grasp, and nowhere to hide anywhere on this very large Earth.”

Trump’s initial response in the hours after terror attacks was more restrained. He had flirted with a presidential run before, but he had yet to embrace some of the hardline ideas that later emerged in his campaign.