On Sept. 11, 2001, smoke rises from the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center after Muslim terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into the towers in New York City. (AP/Richard Drew)
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 2001 attacks were Saudi citizens.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
President Donald Trump said he would consider requests from families of 9/11 victims to release remaining government records concerning allegations of Saudi involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Trump addressed the request before boarding Air Force One following a weekend in Ireland, saying he planned to examine the issue after returning to Washington.
“I’m going to look at it when I get back,” Trump said. “I know they asked me Friday.”
Families of those killed in the attacks have pressed the administration to release unredacted FBI and intelligence records they believe could provide additional information about possible Saudi connections to the plot.
Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada was killed on 9/11, appealed directly to Trump during Friday’s remembrance ceremony in New York City, calling on him to “tell the Saudis to stop lying.”
Strada, who was among the relatives who read victims’ names at this year’s ceremony, accused successive US administrations of failing the families.
“It has been one betrayal after another,” she said. “President Trump can still change that.”
Strada said US presidents had chosen “to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families” and urged the Trump administration to “stand with the families, stand with the survivors.”
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 2001 attacks were Saudi citizens.
Previous US government commissions found no direct evidence that the Saudi government as a whole financed al-Qaeda.
Relatives of those killed have continued pursuing a long-running federal lawsuit against Saudi Arabia while seeking access to classified government records related to investigations of the attacks.
Saudi Arabia has consistently denied involvement or complicity in the September 11 attacks.
Trump did not commit to releasing the records, saying only that he would review the families’ request after returning to Washington.
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