Biden Under Pressure to Release Documents on Saudi Involvement in 9/11
WASHINGTON (New York Post) – Pressure is building on U.S. President Joe Biden to release secret FBI documents showing Saudi Arabia’s complicity in the 9/11 terror attacks, with families of the victims accusing the U.S. government of letting the Middle East ally "get away with the murder of our loved ones.”
A group of 22 New York and New Jersey federal lawmakers, including lone Republican Nicole Malliotakis and NY Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, challenging the "state secrets privilege” that ex-presidents Trump, Obama and Bush invoked to block release of a classified 16-page FBI report.
Relatives of those killed on 9/11 or from illnesses triggered by Ground Zero toxins applauded last week’s missive.
"After nearly 20 years, it is long past time that the American public learned the extent of Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11,” said Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his father was killed in the South Tower collapse.
Evidence of Saudi involvement in the terror attack emerged in a 2012 FBI memo as part of its Operation Encore investigation from 2007 to 2016. The heavily redacted four-page document identified three senior Saudi government officials who helped provide two 9/11 hijackers with living quarters, financial aid, flight lessons and driver’s licenses in California — allegedly knowing they "were here to commit an act of terrorism.” One of the officials, Musaed Jarrah, was working in the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
The families, who are suing Saudi Arabia for damages in Manhattan federal court, seek the FBI’s final 16-page report.
"They’re holding onto the juiciest material,” Andrew Maloney, a lawyer for the families, told The New York Post.
What’s worse, he said, the agency has shared confidential documents with American lawyers for the alleged Saudi co-conspirators. "The FBI has actually been helping the Saudis instead of the families. It’s crazy.”
Eagleson’s father, Bruce Eagleson, 53, who worked for retail giant Westfield, was in the lobby of the South Tower when he headed upstairs to give walkie talkies to firefighters. The tower collapsed on his way up.
Brett raised an appeal for the FBI reports with Donald Trump during a ceremony at the White House on Sept. 11, 2019.
The repressive Saudi regime is a key strategic U.S. ally and also buys billions of dollars in weapons from the U.S. It has denied collusion on 9/11, though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
A group of 22 New York and New Jersey federal lawmakers, including lone Republican Nicole Malliotakis and NY Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, challenging the "state secrets privilege” that ex-presidents Trump, Obama and Bush invoked to block release of a classified 16-page FBI report.
Relatives of those killed on 9/11 or from illnesses triggered by Ground Zero toxins applauded last week’s missive.
"After nearly 20 years, it is long past time that the American public learned the extent of Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11,” said Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his father was killed in the South Tower collapse.
Evidence of Saudi involvement in the terror attack emerged in a 2012 FBI memo as part of its Operation Encore investigation from 2007 to 2016. The heavily redacted four-page document identified three senior Saudi government officials who helped provide two 9/11 hijackers with living quarters, financial aid, flight lessons and driver’s licenses in California — allegedly knowing they "were here to commit an act of terrorism.” One of the officials, Musaed Jarrah, was working in the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
The families, who are suing Saudi Arabia for damages in Manhattan federal court, seek the FBI’s final 16-page report.
"They’re holding onto the juiciest material,” Andrew Maloney, a lawyer for the families, told The New York Post.
What’s worse, he said, the agency has shared confidential documents with American lawyers for the alleged Saudi co-conspirators. "The FBI has actually been helping the Saudis instead of the families. It’s crazy.”
Eagleson’s father, Bruce Eagleson, 53, who worked for retail giant Westfield, was in the lobby of the South Tower when he headed upstairs to give walkie talkies to firefighters. The tower collapsed on his way up.
Brett raised an appeal for the FBI reports with Donald Trump during a ceremony at the White House on Sept. 11, 2019.
The repressive Saudi regime is a key strategic U.S. ally and also buys billions of dollars in weapons from the U.S. It has denied collusion on 9/11, though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.