The FBI has released a newly declassified 16-page document related to logistical support provided to two of the Saudi hijackers in the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, The Guardian reports.
The document describes contacts the hijackers had with Saudi associates in the US but offers no evidence the Saudi government was complicit in the plot.
The document, released on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, is the first investigative record to be disclosed since President Joe Biden ordered a declassification review of materials that for years have remained out of public view.
Biden had encountered pressure in recent weeks from victims’ families, who have long sought the records as they pursue a lawsuit in New York alleging that senior Saudi officials were complicit.
The Saudi government has always denied any involvement. The Saudi embassy in Washington said on Wednesday that it supported the full declassification of all records as a way to “end the baseless allegations against the kingdom once and for all”. The embassy said that any allegation that Saudi Arabia was complicit was “categorically false”.
