The Biden administration is reviewing evidence pertaining to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks following pressure from families of victims.
In a court filing regarding long-standing litigation brought by victims’ families against Saudi Arabia, submitted on Monday, the Justice Department said the FBI has “decided to review its prior privilege assertions to identify additional information appropriate for disclosure.”
The FBI “will disclose such information on a rolling basis as expeditiously as possible,” Audrey Strauss, a U.S. attorney, said in the filing addressed to Judges Sarah Newborn and George B. Daniels.
US PEACE ENVOY PUSHES TO ISOLATE TALIBAN SHOULD THEY TAKE POWER BY FORCE
This development comes less than a week after nearly 1,800 friends and family members of 9/11 victims, first responders, and survivors released a statement calling on President Joe Biden to skip tributes on the 20th anniversary of the attacks unless he releases documents that they believe could shed light on Saudi Arabia’s alleged complicity.
Brett Eagleson, who lost his father on 9/11 and signed the letter to the president, said this move wasn’t enough to satiate their needs.
“Unfortunately, however, we have heard many empty promises before. The DOJ/FBI have already had three years to ‘review’ the files and can act immediately to produce the documents, including the unredacted 2016 FBI Review Report of the bureau’s yearslong investigation of Saudi government agents who ‘are known to have provided substantial assistance to’ the hijackers, as well as phone records and witness statements,” he said in a statement.
“Just today, the DOJ finally admitted that its investigation is actually closed, contrary to the bureau’s prior claims about investigative status,” Eagleson, who also advocates for the 9/11 community, added. “We hope the Biden administration comes forward now to provide the information the 9/11 community has waited to receive for 20 years, so we can stand together with the president at Ground Zero on 9/11.”
Biden, in an October 2020 letter during his candidacy for the Oval Office, accused then-Attorney General William Barr of using the secrecy privilege “to prevent the discovery by the families of FBI information that could shed light on actions that Saudi officials may have taken to assist the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The president, in a statement from the White House, said he “welcome[s]” the filing, which “commits to conducting a fresh review of documents where the government has previously asserted privileges, and to doing so as quickly as possible.”
The release of the documents on Saudi Arabia, the group of 9/11 victims said, would allow them “to rightfully obtain justice against the Kingdom,” and they argued that the Biden administration should implement a new policy stating that Saudi Arabia “must acknowledge its role in terrorist attacks against our citizens and residents.”
