9/11 Families Press Trump to Declassify Saudi Records Ahead of 25th Anniversary

Families of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks say newly obtained records strengthen their long-running civil lawsuit accusing Saudi Arabia of helping the hijackers, and they want President Trump to declassify more government files before the 25th anniversary of the attacks, according to ABC News.

The lawsuit, which families have pursued in various forms since 2003, is heading toward trial after a U.S. judge ruled last year that Saudi Arabia can be sued civilly over allegations it supported the hijackers, according to ITV. Saudi Arabia has consistently denied any role in the attacks.

The records at the center of the latest push come from a separate lawsuit involving a man the families describe as an alleged Saudi intelligence agent, according to ABC News. They reportedly include a video purportedly casing the U.S. Capitol two years before the attacks and a sketch that families say shows calculations for flying a plane into a ground target. One family member called the material "smoking gun evidence," ABC News reported, though the documents have not been tested in open court and their authenticity has not been independently verified.

Al-Bayoumi at the Center

The families' case centers on Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who lived in the U.S. for years, nominally as a student, before the attacks. Their lawsuit alleges al-Bayoumi provided support to two hijackers after they arrived in California in early 2000, including helping them find an apartment, according to ABC News. Al-Bayoumi has not been charged criminally in the U.S., and the allegations remain civil claims that Saudi Arabia disputes.

Brett Eagleson, whose father Bruce died in the World Trade Center's South Tower, told ABC News he wants Trump to release phone logs purportedly belonging to al-Bayoumi and two of the hijackers. Eagleson pointed to Trump's executive orders declassifying files on the JFK assassination and other historical episodes as precedent. "We've seen him do it for the [JFK] files. Why not the 9/11 files?" Eagleson said. "Now is the moment, 25 years later, to finally bring resolution."

Eagleson has enlisted members of New York's congressional delegation, including Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican and Trump ally, who cosigned a letter urging declassification before the anniversary. "This is probably one of the better shots that we have at getting this information out there," Malliotakis told ABC News. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News that Trump "is leading the most transparent administration in history" and that his team is "working diligently to identify records that are responsive to these families' request." No timeline for a decision has been announced.

A British Officer's Account

Separately, a British police officer identified as Campbell told ITV that the FBI dismissed evidence he believed met the threshold for extraditing a 9/11 suspect. Campbell said that after a week of questioning, he briefed a senior colleague and U.S. Justice Department officials by phone from Scotland Yard. "We believed wholeheartedly that there was sufficient evidence," he said. The response from the U.S. side, according to Campbell: "No, insufficient evidence." He described being "gobsmacked," saying the room fell silent because he and his colleague believed the evidence cleared the bar for extradition. ITV's report does not name the suspect involved or specify when the exchange occurred, and the FBI has not publicly responded to Campbell's characterization in the available reporting.

What's Proven, What Isn't

None of this amounts to a legal finding of Saudi government complicity. The families' claims are allegations in an active civil lawsuit, not a verdict, and Saudi Arabia disputes them. A federal judge's ruling last year only cleared the way for the case to proceed to trial. It didn't resolve the underlying factual dispute.

There is also a fair argument on the other side of the declassification push. National security officials have historically resisted releasing raw intelligence files, arguing that doing so can burn sources, damage relationships with foreign intelligence services, and reveal methods that take years to rebuild. The 9/11 Commission's original 2004 report found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution, or senior officials, funded al-Qaeda, even while acknowledging individual Saudis likely provided money that reached the network. Whether the newer material changes that picture is a question for the trial record, not a press release.

For now, the outstanding questions are concrete: whether Trump orders additional declassification before the anniversary, whether the phone logs and video are ever entered as trial evidence, and whether Campbell's account of the FBI's extradition call gets addressed on the record by U.S. officials. None of those questions has been answered as of this week.