BEDMINSTER, New Jersey — Families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks turned their ire on former President Donald Trump just miles up the road from where his New Jersey property is hosting the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament.
For weeks, activists pleaded with Trump to scrap the LIV Golf tournament from his Bedminster resort due to its ties to Saudi Arabia. But now that Trump has refused to relent and defended LIV over its ties with the country, the victims’ families gathered in protest Friday near his resort to issue a scathing rebuke of Trump and the golfers.
‘TRUMP GOOD, SAUDI BAD’: BEDMINSTER LOCALS GRAPPLE WITH LIV UPROAR
“To see a former president two days ago claim that he doesn’t know about our outrage and doesn’t know who was behind 9/11 — is the worst that these family members can get when we’re not even getting through to a former president. That is the worst form of greed and worst form of evil,” Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, said at a press conference.
Donning red hats with “9/11 Justice” and T-shirts outlining Saudi connections to the terrorist attacks, family members rallied at a library about 3 miles from the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. Family members took turns at the podium, recalling their last interactions with loved ones among the 3,000 people killed two decades ago in the attack.
Some read through FBI documents released last year examining links between Saudi Arabia and the attacks while decrying that the kingdom had long evaded justice because of its vast oil money.
Tim Frolich, who was seriously injured in the 2001 attacks, recalled a 2019 meeting with Trump in which the former president promised to declassify documents about Saudi Arabia’s connections to 9/11, but then his administration took action the next day to hamper the release. He blasted Trump for agreeing to host the LIV tournament.
“It’s deplorable you, along with professional golfers, have decided to accept buyouts from this rogue Saudi government. Facts are facts, Mr. President. We now have those facts,” he said at the press conference.
Juliette Scauso, whose father was a firefighter who died in the attacks when she was 4 years old, compared his bravery with the cowardice of those partnering with LIV.
“I just want you to know that if you were there that day, my father would have gone into safety without a second thought,” she said. “You aren’t just playing golf and taking a political stance. You’re taking a stance that you agree with the actions of Saudi Arabia.”
Eagleson highlighted the bipartisan nature of 9/11 Justice’s activism, stressing that both Republicans and Democrats suffered from the terrorist attacks. He also expressed bewilderment at how Trump refused to budge on LIV despite hemorrhaging Republican support over it.
“We are grieved families speaking out against injustice. There is nothing political about us,” Eagleson said.
Acknowledging that efforts to dissuade Trump and others from participating in the LIV event had failed, Eagleson said that the group needed to “take a collective breath” but was adamant that the group would remain active in its pursuit of justice against the kingdom. He hinted that the group would oppose the second LIV tournament Trump is set to host at Trump National Doral Miami in October.
Members of another group, 9/11 Families United, held a press conference earlier in the week on Tuesday, blasting the LIV tournament for its ties to Saudi Arabia.
The FBI has released reports evaluating connections between Saudi Arabia and the attack. There have been alleged links between some Saudi officials, such as Omar al Bayoumi, who is believed to have been a former Saudi intelligence officer, and some of the hijackers involved. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi. Riyadh has adamantly denied any responsibility for the attacks.
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Trump has shrugged off outrage over LIV’s Saudi connections, arguing that “nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11.”
Friday is the first day of the LIV tournament at Trump’s Bedminster resort. The event is slated to last until Sunday.
