The 16 pages — documenting the FBI's interview with an unidentified Saudi consulate staffer in Los Angeleswho had contact with the Saudi nationals as they were assisting hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi — represent the first of an expected tranche of material to be released as part of Biden's order.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers, including al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi, were Saudi nationals, as was Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaida, the militant Islamic terrorist group that plotted and executed the attacks. The Saudi government expelled bin Laden from the kingdom and stripped him of his citizenship well before the 2001 attacks on the U.S.
Al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi ultimately became part of the hijacking team that commandeered American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.
More:9/11 hijackers were 'hiding in plain sight' before the 2001 attacks. How did they do it?
The Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks and recently said it welcomes Biden's declassification decision.
"Any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false," the embassy said in a Sept. 8 statement. "Saudi Arabia knows all too well the evil that al-Qaeda through its ideology and actions represents ... Alongside the U.S., the kingdom has spared no effort in tackling the men, money, and mindset of terrorism and extremism in all its forms."
Send an email
