More than 3,000 family members of 9/11 victims have called on former President Trump and Vice President Harris to oppose any Middle East peace deal with Saudi Arabia unless Saudi Arabia admits responsibility and plays a role in the attacks.
“We've waited 23 years for truth, justice and accountability,” Brett Eagleson, executive director of 9/11 Justice, an advocacy group whose father died in the World Trade Center, told Fox News Digital on the 23rd anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.
“As we continue to press and speak out, more and more conclusive evidence is coming to light that Saudi Arabia aided the 9/11 hijackers, yet our government is doing nothing to hold them accountable.”
Both Trump and Biden have sought to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and pushed for a security pact allowing for civilian nuclear energy cooperation and defense guarantees to counter Iran. The pact was put on hold after Hamas attacked Israel last October.
The families point to video footage of Saudi Arabian government officials “spying” on the U.S. Capitol as evidence of Saudi Arabia's involvement.
They sent their first letter to both Harris and Trump last week and a follow-up this week, and also extended invitations to meet with the candidates at Ground Zero next Wednesday, the anniversary of 9/11.
Pedestrians in Lower Manhattan watch smoke rising from the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Amy Sanchetta)
New York firefighters amid the rubble of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. (Getty Images)
“As you campaign for the next President of the United States, we ask you to pledge that you will not recognize any Middle East peace agreement involving Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government's role in the 9/11 attacks is fully addressed,” their letter read.
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Omar al-Bayoumi, a former Saudi intelligence operative with close ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers, according to the FBI, is seen on camera in a June 2024 video released by CBS pointing out models of entrances, security posts and buildings around the Capitol.
“We will report what is there,” Al-Bayoumi said, referring to the nearby airport and pointing to the Washington Monument.
Federal investigators believe the hijackers of Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, intended to crash the plane into the Capitol.
“We say that if the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia really wants to engage with the West, if it wants to continue to buy our weapons, if it wants our nuclear technology, if it wants to defend our military, then it should at least admit its mistakes, admit to practices such as supporting hijackers and exporting Islamic extremism within its own government 23 years ago, and acknowledge that without that, 9/11 would never have happened.”
Eagleson said Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) “had nothing to do with 9/11. We were both 15 years old at the time.”
“To MBS's credit, he is progressive in some ways, but … that doesn't absolve them of their past sins.”
9/11 Justice, formed by families of victims in Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, has sued the Saudi Arabian government and demanded the U.S. government declassify all remaining documents related to 9/11.
Fifteen of the 19 al-Qaida hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but their direct links to the Saudi government remained unclear for many years.
“Our government leadership, our two candidates, have refused to address this issue and we're fed up,” Eagleson said.
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In 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling for the review and declassification of 9/11 documents, but Eagleson said it's “not working.”
“You have to go abroad to get this information,” he added, noting that the video in the case was obtained from British police. London police provided the video to the FBI several years ago but not to the 9/11 Commission or the CIA, Deputy Commissioner Michael Morrell said.
“I'm 99.9% sure this video did not exist. I was briefing the president at the time. If anyone had shown this video, I would have shown it to the president,” he told CBS.
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“Did President Biden and Vice President Harris see this video? Did President Trump see it? Why was this video suppressed?,” Eagleson said. “The fact that they haven't answered that question reeks of a conspiracy, it reeks of a cover-up.”
The Harris and Trump campaigns could not be reached for comment.
