President Donald Trump on Friday pushed back against reports that he chose not to attend the 25th anniversary commemoration of the September 11 attacks at Ground Zero because organizers would not allow him to deliver remarks, saying he was “99 percent” certain he could have spoken had he wanted to.

Trump addressed the controversy during an interview with Sid Rosenberg on 77 WABC, disputing a New York Times report last month that said his team had expressed interest in having him speak at the New York City ceremony.

“It’s just not true. I didn’t demand to speak,” he told Sid Rosenberg on 77 WABC on Friday.

Trump said he believed organizers would have accommodated him had he actually sought a speaking role.

“I’m sure if I wanted to speak, they would have let me,” he said, adding that he’s president and he knows “the guys down there.”

“I am 99 percent sure,” he continued.

The New York Times reported in August, citing people familiar with the planning, that Trump’s team had initially signaled an intention to attend the Ground Zero commemoration and that his interest in speaking had been conveyed to organizers. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has barred politicians from delivering speeches at the annual ceremony since 2012, seeking to keep the observance focused on the victims and their families rather than politics.

Trump, however, suggested Friday that he had little interest in adding another speech to his schedule.

Trump joked that “I speak enough, the last thing I want to do is speak.”

“I don’t need it for any reason,” he said.

Trump also singled out New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, one of the reporters who worked on the original story. He had already sharply disputed the account in a Truth Social post last month, describing the Times report as “Corrupt News.”

“I’ve been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks, it’s a ‘solemn ceremony!’” he wrote.

Trump ultimately marked Friday’s anniversary at the Pentagon, where he delivered remarks honoring the victims and reflecting on the attacks 25 years later. Vice President JD Vance represented the administration at the Ground Zero ceremony in Lower Manhattan, joining victims’ families and all four living ex-presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Previous presidents have at times visited all three locations struck on September 11 — New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the Flight 93 crash site near Shanksville, Pennsylvania — on major anniversaries. Biden visited all three on the 20th anniversary in 2021, Obama did so for the 10th anniversary in 2011, and George W. Bush visited the three sites on both the first and fifth anniversaries.