NEW YORK — Setting aside the rancor of their debate, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met again Wednesday morning at the hallowed ground of the World Trade Center site, shaking hands and standing nearly side by side to mark the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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It was a striking tableau of political unity less than 12 hours after the end of their contentious and personal debate — potentially the only one between them before the November election. Harris stood with President Joe Biden while Trump stood with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, as the former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, served as a human buffer.

Bloomberg appeared to facilitate the handshake. Harris could be seen saying “thank you” to Trump.

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The moment was a throwback to the sense of national unity that emerged in the months after hijackers staged the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history. It recalled 2008, when Barack Obama and John McCain, then rivals for the presidency, came together at the Sept. 11 memorial ceremony in Lower Manhattan in the final weeks of their contest.

Trump and Vance wore matching blue suits and red ties. Harris chatted amiably with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader.

Biden, Harris and Trump were set to lay wreaths in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers aboard Flight 93 brought down their plane before it could reach its intended target, the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The president and vice president were also expected to participate in a similar event at the Pentagon, where hijackers crashed a fourth airliner in the 2001 attacks.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jonathan Weisman/Doug Mills
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