Obama Plans to Visit Ground Zero on Thursday

NEW YORK—In the wake of the announcement that Osama bin Laden was effectively taken out by American forces, and the subsequent mass gathering of citizens at ground zero, President Obama is planning to visit the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Thursday, May 5.
Obama Plans to Visit Ground Zero on Thursday
In the wake of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama will visit ground zero in New York City on Thursday. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
5/3/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/113485840.jpg" alt="In the wake of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama will visit ground zero in New York City on Thursday. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)" title="In the wake of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama will visit ground zero in New York City on Thursday. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1804564"/></a>
In the wake of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama will visit ground zero in New York City on Thursday. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
NEW YORK—In the wake of the announcement that Osama bin Laden was effectively taken out by American forces, and the subsequent mass gathering of citizens at ground zero, President Obama is planning to visit the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Thursday, May 5.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer confirmed the circulating reports on an official White House account on Twitter, the site that features short and straight to the point blog posts limited to 140 characters or less.

“On Thursday, May 5, President Obama will travel to New York City to visit ground zero and meet with 9/11 victims,” Pfeiffer tweeted.

On Tuesday, the morning after the proclamation of bin Laden’s death, throngs of people assembled near the 4 World Trade Center and One World Trade Center sites to hear Mayor Michael Bloomberg speak and to celebrate the news. The president’s appearance will likely draw many more people to the area, making for a very crowded event. This will be the first time since the 2008 presidential campaign that Obama will have traveled to ground zero.

The visit does raise security concerns, with the president in attendance and the anticipation of a large crowd attending. The NYPD said in an e-mail, “We are aware of the visit and will have an adequate police detail in place.”