The White House said Thursday said there are still procedural steps that may further delay the release of the long-classified pages providing information about alleged Saudi Arabia government ties to the 9/11 hijackers.
The president’s press secretary, Josh Earnest, would not confirm a CNN report that the document, known as the “28 pages,” will be released as early as Friday.
“I don’t have a specific date to confirm for you,” Earnest said, referring to the deliberative process the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has undertaken to determine whether to release the pages.
Once the process has been completed, the DNI will provide the document to Congress and Congress will decide how to make it public, he said.
“Any time we’re talking about declassifying and releasing sensitive national security information, we need to weigh the diplomatic equities involved,” he said.
He referred all questions about the timing of document release to Congress to the DNI.
The “28 pages” is a still-classified portion of a public report produced after the 2002 independent investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks.
