JD Vance Called 'Sewer Dwelling Scum' by 9/11 Responder's Brother Over 'Vile' Joke at Anniversary Briefing

JD Vance has been sharply condemned by the brother of a 9/11 first responder after joking about Joe Biden while explaining why he will attend the Ground Zero anniversary ceremony instead of Donald Trump.

The vice-president was asked at a White House briefing why he, rather than Trump, would attend the 25th anniversary memorial at the World Trade Centre in New York.

Vance said he was not aware of any special security concern behind the decision and explained that the president and vice-president could not be in several places at once.

'We just decided as a team that I would go to New York for 9/11, and the president would stay here in D.C. to commemorate what happened at the Pentagon,' Vance said.

Trump has said he will mark the anniversary at the Pentagon, while Vance is expected to attend the New York ceremony.

Biden Joke Sparks Anger

Vance then said attending a previous Ground Zero memorial had been 'one of the most amazing experiences' of his life.

But he followed that solemn reflection with a jab at Biden, who is expected to attend the New York ceremony alongside Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

'I'm also, as you guys can probably guess, I'm really looking forward to hanging out with Joe Biden,' Vance said. 'I'm sure that we'll have many, many intense intellectual conversations.'

The remark also came as Biden undergoes treatment for prostate cancer, which his son Hunter Biden said last month had spread further and was causing him significant pain.

'Sewer Dwelling Scum'

Fred Guttenberg, an author and gun safety advocate whose brother died of pancreatic cancer after serving as a 9/11 first responder, reacted with fury.

'The more I watch this, the more p---ed I get,' Guttenberg wrote on X. 'As someone whose brother died because of 9/11, I would expect that this a--hole who happens to be our VP would at least understand why this moment matters.'

Tagging Vance directly, he added: 'JD, my brother didn't die to enable sewer-dwelling scum like you.'

Guttenberg's brother, Dr Michael Guttenberg, was an emergency medicine physician and FDNY first responder who worked at Ground Zero after the attacks. He died of pancreatic cancer in October 2017, an illness his family has linked to his exposure at the site.

Family Pain Behind the Rebuke

Guttenberg told the Daily Beast that Vance's comments politicised a moment that should instead be treated with maturity and seriousness. He criticised the vice-president for using the anniversary discussion to mock Biden.

Guttenberg has also endured another public tragedy. Four months after his brother's death, his 14-year-old daughter, Jaime Guttenberg, was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Ceremony Will Honour the Dead

The 25th anniversary ceremony in New York will again centre on victims' relatives reading the names of those killed in the 9/11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum says the commemoration will include seven moments of silence marking when each tower was struck and fell, the attack on the Pentagon, the crash of Flight 93 and, for the first time, those who died from 9/11-related health effects.

Trump's decision to attend the Pentagon ceremony rather than the Ground Zero memorial has drawn attention of its own. Reports said he had wanted to speak in New York, where politicians have been barred from delivering speeches at the anniversary ceremony since 2012, though Trump has disputed that account.