Joe Biden and Mike Pence meet and elbow bump at 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York City, reflecting coronavirus concern

Biden was due to visit Shanksville for memorial events later Friday, after Trump traveled there Friday morning to mark the anniversary. The visits of the two campaign adversaries were not scheduled to overlap.

Biden told reporters in New York that he would neither be discussing the campaign or politics, nor would his campaign be advertising on television Friday, because of the nature of the day.

“Guys, I’m not gonna be making any news today. I’m not gonna talk about anything other than 9/11,” Biden said.

“We took all our advertising down. It’s a solemn day and that’s how we’re gonna keep it. Okay? We’ll get back to the campaign tomorrow.”

However, a number of ads for Biden’s campaign did run Friday in Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to clips provided by a Trump campaign official which were viewed by CNBC.

When asked about those ads running despite Biden’s claim to the contrary, the Biden campaign said, that while it had intended to suspend its advertising, the ads were inadvertently aired in those markets. The campaign also said that it is reaching for to the affiliate stations that air the ads, seeking an explanation and a remedy.

At least one ad for Trump ran Friday morning on Fox News, a favorite media outlet of the president.

A Trump campaign official defended the decision to CNBC, saying, “people are voting today and our ads are patriotic.”

In late August, the non-profit group 9/11 Day had written to both Trump’s and to Biden’s campaigns, asking them to honor a moratorium of campaign ads on the day, which the group has said 

“This traditional 9/11 Campaign Moratorium, originally established in 2004, has been supported by all major party U.S. presidential candidates since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as by many other candidates for public office at the federal, state and local levels,” the group said in its letter.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/11/joe-biden-and-pence-meet-at-9/11-memorial-practice-coronavirus-safety.html