After 9/11 families tell Biden not to attend memorials, FBI may leak secret files

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department signaled Monday that it may release classified information from its investigation into the 9/11 attacks, which the families of the victims say may show links between the Saudi government and terrorist attackers.

In a letter to a federal court, the Biden administration said the FBI recently closed part of the investigation and is now reviewing classified documents and evidence to determine if more of it can be disclosed.

“The FBI has decided to revisit its previous assertions of privilege to identify additional information appropriate for disclosure,” the letter said. “The FBI will release this information on an ongoing basis as quickly as possible.”

The move comes after family members of the victims, first responders and survivors called on President Joe Biden to ignore the 9/11 commemorative events this year unless he releases the documents, which they say involve Saudi officials in supporting acts of terrorism. They said Biden had pledged as a candidate to disclose as much information as possible, but his administration had since ignored their letters and requests.

Biden expressed support for the Justice Department’s move, saying in a statement Monday that he had pledged during his campaign that his administration would commit to maximum transparency under the law. The ministry has previously invoked state secret privilege by refusing to declassify the documents.

“In this vein, I welcome the tabling of the Department of Justice today, which undertakes to re-examine documents for which the government has previously claimed privileges, and to do so as quickly as possible”, did he declare.

The letter from the Department of Justice was filed in federal court in Manhattan as part of a long-standing lawsuit brought by the families of these victims against Saudi Arabia. The administration did not provide any information on the results of the probe.

The plaintiffs said they believed up to 25,000 pages of documents were hidden from view in their case.

Brett Eagleson, whose father Bruce died at the World Trade Center in 2001, said he and others who urged Biden not to attend upcoming memorial events are “collectively at their wit’s end with our own government.” .

“We are frustrated, tired and saddened that the US government has chosen for 20 years to keep information about the deaths of our loved ones behind bars,” he said.