9/11 families press Trump on Saudi files as civil case clears a key legal threshold
Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the question of sovereign accountability around Saudi Arabia's alleged role has returned to Washington's front burner. Families of those killed gathered at the Ground Zero…
Key takeaways
- Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks, victims' families gathered at the Ground Zero memorial to demand President Trump release unredacted government files they believe implicate Saudi Arabia in the plot.
- In August 2025, U.S. District Judge George Daniels allowed the families' civil claims against Saudi Arabia to proceed, a procedural threshold that did not establish Saudi liability.
- The families' claims center on two figures documented by the 9/11 Commission: Omar al-Bayoumi, who helped two hijackers find a San Diego apartment, and Saudi diplomat Fahad al-Thumairy.
- The 9/11 Commission documented these connections but did not conclude that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials supported the plot.
- Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied involvement, and Trump, who said in 2022 that questions remain unanswered, has not stated whether he will release additional files.
Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the question of sovereign accountability around Saudi Arabia's alleged role has returned to Washington's front burner. Families of those killed gathered at the Ground Zero memorial in New York to demand that President Donald Trump release unredacted government files they believe implicate the kingdom in the plot.
Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was killed in the attacks, delivered the central message from the memorial stage, accusing administrations across party lines of choosing to protect Saudi Arabia over the families. She cited President Barack Obama's 2016 veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act as a specific instance; Congress later overrode that veto, allowing families to sue the kingdom. A second speaker, addressing Vice President JD Vance directly, urged him to carry the families' message back to Trump. Vance attended the ceremony alongside former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Bill Clinton, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The legal backdrop
The civil action underpinning these demands advanced in August 2025, when U.S. District Judge George Daniels allowed claims against Saudi Arabia to proceed, finding that the families had presented sufficient evidence to move toward trial. That ruling cleared a procedural threshold; it did not establish Saudi liability. Families say the decision, combined with additional FBI and British intelligence material, creates a concrete opening for Trump to declassify more records.
The families' claims center on two figures documented by the 9/11 Commission: Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who helped hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar find an apartment in San Diego, and Fahad al-Thumairy, an accredited Saudi diplomat and imam at the King Fahd Mosque in California who had numerous contacts with al-Bayoumi. The Commission documented those connections but did not conclude that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials supported the plot. Its report also found no evidence that a third Saudi national, Osama Bassnan, gave money to the hijackers.
Dennis McGinley, whose brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower, told Fox News Digital that Trump holds "a unique, historic opportunity" to resolve what he called an American embarrassment. Passananti, affiliated with the group 9/11 Justice and whose father worked on the 100th floor of the North Tower, described the years of legal delay as a twilight zone, and said families have obtained evidence largely on their own.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any involvement. Trump said publicly in 2022 that questions about the attacks remain unanswered, but has not stated whether he will release additional files on the Saudi connection. That gap between acknowledgment and action is where the matter stands at the 25-year mark.
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