President Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Welles Remy Crowther, the young equities trader who guided strangers out of the burning South Tower on September 11, 2001, wearing a red bandana, and never came back down. His mother, Allison, and his sister Paige accepted the medal on the Ellipse Tuesday morning. “A while ago, I promised mom and sister that Welles was going to get the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and we didn’t forget,” the President said. In the same remarks, he announced that a Coast Guard fast response cutter will be named for FDNY firefighter and Coast Guard reservist Jeffrey Palazzo, adding that he had negotiated the price of the vessel himself.
The medal presentation came at the close of the White House “Steel Across America” event, scheduled in the overnight guidance for 10:35 a.m. and gaveled in shortly before eleven. The President walked out in a white USA cap, and Frank Siller of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation presented him with an American flag stitched with steel recovered from the South Tower. The centerpiece of the event was a 21-foot, 17,000-pound beam pulled from that tower, staged on the Ellipse and flanked by black-and-white photographs of first responders and by fire apparatus from Arlington County and the District. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles stood in the crowd. The President honored the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks, described Washington as safe again, and praised the military over the recent fighting with Iran, stating flatly that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. A White House statement afterward confirmed the beam continues on to New York, and that the President and Vice President JD Vance will visit the attack sites Friday for the 25th anniversary.
The day’s paper began the night before. The out-of-town pool called a lid at 6:05 p.m., reported by Kerry Picket, with nothing further from the President for the remainder of the evening. Minutes later, the Office of Communications released the press rotation through September 13, assigning NBC and Lindell TV to television duty for Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Caller to print, the Associated Press to radio, and the Gateway Pundit to the new media slot. The overnight guidance laid out a compact schedule: executive time at eight, the Ellipse event at 10:35, executive orders signed at one o’clock in the Oval Office, and policy meetings at two, three and five, with a 9:00 a.m. pool call time. By nine, print pooler Ana Ceballos of the Los Angeles Times had checked in and confirmed the Ellipse was the only open item on the board. The pool gathered on the grounds at 9:56, and the President wrapped his remarks at 11:17. A lunch lid ran until 12:45.
Border Czar Tom Homan then spent roughly ten minutes with reporters outside the West Wing. Asked about Salvadoran Temporary Protected Status, which expires Wednesday, Homan said the determination belongs to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and added that El Salvador is a far safer country now. On ICE body cameras, he said the rollout is underway and that a plan is in place.
The signing session produced the day’s principal deliverable. At one o’clock, the President signed an order directing the War Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs to share personnel and medical records beginning from the day a service member enlists, to build a single digital portal for those records, and to overhaul the Transition Assistance Program so troops leaving the ranks receive employment and training support more quickly — a measure the administration frames as an attack on the benefits backlog. The President also adjusted delegations of authority under the Defense Production Act. Separately, Canada’s 50 percent matching tariffs on American goods took effect Tuesday.
This is the White House Rundown from Next News Network with Chief White House Correspondent Gary Franchi, a daily wrap-up of presidential actions, executive orders, pool reports and press communications from the past 24 hours. The program streams with our partners at Trump Daily Posts.
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