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9/11 families call on Trump, Harris to oppose US-Saudi deal until kingdom admits involvement in terror attack

9/11 families call on Trump, Harris to oppose US-Saudi deal until kingdom admits involvement in terror attack

More than 3,000 family members of 9/11 victims are demanding both former President Trump and Vice President Harris oppose any Middle East peace deal with Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom acknowledges and is held accountable for its involvement in the attack. “We waited 23 years for truth, justice and accountability,” Brett Eagleson, head of the advocacy group 9/11 Justice who lost his father in the World Trade Center, told Fox News Digital ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the nation’s deadliest terror attack.  “As we continue to push and as we continue to make noise, we’re seeing more and more evidence, smoking-gun evidence coming out about the kingdom’s role in supporting 9/11 hijackers, and our government has done nothing to hold them accountable.” Both Trump and President Biden have been pushing for a security deal that would normalize relations between Israel and the Saudis, allow for civil nuclear energy cooperation and defense guarantees to counter Iran. That deal was put on ice after the Hamas attack on Israel last October. The families point to video footage of a Saudi government agent “casing” the U.S. Capitol as proof of Saudi involvement.  They sent an original letter to both Harris and Trump last week and a follow-up one this week. They also invited both candidates to meet with them at Ground Zero next Wednesday on the 9/11 anniversary. “As you campaign to become the next President of the United States, we ask you to pledge that you will not endorse any Middle East peace deal involving Saudi Arabia unless it fully addresses the role of the Saudi Arabian government in the 9/11 attacks,” their letter reads. HARRIS’ RECORD GIVES INSIGHT TO GOALS: GETTING TOUGH ON SAUDI ARABIA AND RENEWING IRAN DEAL  Omar al-Bayoumi, who the FBI says was an operative of the Saudi intelligence service with close ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers, can be seen filming a video published by CBS in June 2024 around the Capitol pointing out entrances and exits, security posts and a model of the building.  Al-Bayoumi noted the airport nearby and pointed to the Washington Monument and said he would “report to you what is in there.”  Federal investigators believe the hijackers of Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, had intentions of flying the plane into the Capitol.  “We’re saying that if the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia truly wants to engage with the West, and they want to continue to buy our weapons, and they want our nuclear technology, and they want the defense of our troops, the least they can do is admit their fault and admit that the practices within their government 23 years ago, with supporting the hijackers and exporting this radical form of Islam, admit that it were not for that, 9/11 would have never had happened.” Eagleson said Saudi Crown-Prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] “had nothing to do with 9/11 – we were both 15 at the time.” “To MBS’ credit, he is sort of being a progressive, but … it doesn’t absolve them from the sins of their past.” Formed by families of victims in Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, 9/11 Justice has sued the Saudi government and pushed the U.S. government to declassify all remaining documents about 9/11.  Fifteen of the 19 al Qaeda hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but the direct links of the Saudi government have remained murky for years.  “The leaders of our government, the two candidates for office, have refused to address this issue, and we’re sick and tired of it,” said Eagleson.  OPINION: WHY SAUDI ARABIA MATTERS MORE THAN EVER TO THE US In 2021, Biden signed an executive order for the review and declassification of 9/11 documents, but it’s “not working,” Eagleson says. “We’re having to go outside of the country to get this information,” he added, noting that the casing video had come from British police. The London Police provided the FBI with the video years ago, but it was never made available to the 9/11 commission or the CIA, according to Deputy Director Michael Morrell.  “I’m 99.9% confident that we did not have this video. I was the president’s briefer at the time. If somebody had shown me this video, I would have shown it to the president,” he told CBS.  “Have President Biden and Vice President Harris seen this video? Has President Trump seen it? Why was this video buried?” Eagleson said. “The fact that they’re not answering that question just smells of conspiracy, it smells of cover-up.” The Harris and Trump campaigns could not be reached for comment.

Dems face tight timeline to confirm Biden-Harris judges, surpass Trump legacy

Dems face tight timeline to confirm Biden-Harris judges, surpass Trump legacy

President Biden and Senate Democrats are racing to confirm more judicial nominees than former President Donald Trump did while in office.  However, they face a difficult schedule to get it done, with several time-sensitive pieces of legislation due this fall and an entire month out of session in October.  Prior to the August break, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced that seven nominees had been advanced out of committee to be considered for confirmation. It’s unclear when these votes will take place once the Senate is back.  MCCORMICK SAYS ‘PEOPLE ARE RECOGNIZING’ IMPORTANCE OF 2024 ELECTION AS PENNSYLVANIA SENATE POLLS TIGHTEN A spokesperson for Durbin told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Senate Democrats are in a strong position to confirm additional Biden-Harris judicial nominees through the rest of the year. Chair Durbin will continue holding nominations hearings and markups through the end of the Congress, as well as push for floor votes on these highly qualified, diverse nominees who are bringing balance to the federal judiciary.” So far, Biden has appointed 205 federal judges in his term, compared to the 204 whom Trump had appointed, as of Sept. 5, 2020, according to the Heritage Foundation’s judicial tracker.  Both Biden and Trump have put a renewed emphasis on the federal judiciary, each focusing on quickly facilitating as many appointments as they could during their terms. Their appointments during one term have rivaled those of their predecessors, who had double the time to confirm them.  POLITICAL HANDICAPPER SHIFTS MONTANA SENATE TO ‘LEANS REPUBLICAN’ AS TESTER FALLS BEHIND Trump was particularly successful at appointing more judges to influential appellate court positions. In fact, Trump appointed nearly the same number of such judges in his sole term as former President Barack Obama did in both of his.  In May, Biden’s White House had officially outpaced Trump at the same time in his term, appointing 200 federal judges. “Judges matter. These men and women have the power to uphold basic rights or to roll them back,” he said in a statement at the time, emphasizing his commitment to judicial appointments.  While Biden was ahead of Trump in the key metric of judicial appointments in the spring, he’d fallen back on par with the former president by August when the Senate departed Washington, D.C., for recess. The lengthy blocks of out-of-session time in both August and October pose a significant obstacle to Democrats in the Senate getting future Biden judges confirmed.  SENATE GOP BRACING FOR LAST-MINUTE LEADER BIDS — POTENTIALLY BY KEY TRUMP ALLY Not only this, but several time-sensitive legislative fights are shaping up in Congress that are likely to take up valuable time. A partial government shutdown looms at the end of this month if Congress isn’t able to agree on a spending deal before the deadline. This could prove difficult, as conservative Republicans in the House and Senate, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have demanded a six-month continuing resolution (CR) to keep spending levels steady until March, as well as an attached bill to require proof of citizenship to vote.  The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act’s inclusion is likely to be a nonstarter for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital that the spending deal needed to be bipartisan when asked about the Republican-backed measure.  SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR ‘CONCERNED’ OVER FUNDRAISING DISPARITY BUT PREDICTS WHO WILL WIN MAJORITY While five House Democrats voted in favor of it in the lower chamber, it doesn’t seem that it is enough for Schumer, who has refused to give it a vote on the Senate floor.  Once September is up, Congress is scheduled for an additional month-long recess. When they return for November and December, which each have holidays to consider, there will be minimal time to get final judges confirmed.  Schumer’s office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital regarding his confidence in getting more judges appointed than Trump, given the time constraints.