WASHINGTON — President Trump mentioned on Sunday that he might release classified documents related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This consideration comes after victims’ families have publicly urged for clarity on Saudi Arabia’s alleged involvement in the tragedy.
“I’m going to look at it when I get back,” Trump told reporters as he was about to depart from Shannon Airport in Ireland. “I know they asked me Friday. I’ll be looking at it,” he added.
Organizations like 9/11 Families United, headed by Terry Strada, have taken legal action against Saudi Arabia, arguing that the Kingdom should be held accountable for the attacks that claimed 2,977 lives on September 11, 2001.
During a remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan on Friday, Strada openly criticized the Saudis as she honored her late husband, Tom Strada, who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald.
“How can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” Strada questioned, prompting applause from the audience. She continued, expressing frustration that “administration after administration, including leaders in front of us today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families.”
She directed a message to Vice President JD Vance, who was present on behalf of the Trump administration, urging, “Tell the Saudis to stop lying. If they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction we have been suffering through.”
Of the 19 Al Qaeda hijackers who used planes to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 15 were Saudi citizens. Osama bin Laden, the group’s leader, was also born in Saudi Arabia, though his citizenship was revoked by the Kingdom in 1994.
The Saudi government has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
Next month, a federal appeals court in Manhattan will consider arguments concerning Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national linked to the hijackers, who helped them secure accommodations in California.
A video from 1999, which was unsealed by court order in 2024, features al-Bayoumi, who had dubious government connections and was reportedly on Saudi intelligence’s payroll, filming the US Capitol while discussing a “plan.”
Attorneys for the victims’ families suggest that al-Bayoumi was “casing” the Capitol, with 30 minutes of the video focusing on the entrances, security measures, and even the interior columns of the historic building.
The 2004 9/11 Commission report indicated a strong likelihood that the Capitol was the intended target of United Flight 93, which ultimately crashed in Pennsylvania.
In another video from February 2000, al-Bayoumi hosted a “welcome party” for future hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar shortly after they moved to San Diego.
