Video surfaced this week showing a man the FBI claims had ties to Saudi intelligence referencing a “plan” two years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks — raising questions about Saudi ties to the hijackers and the FBI’s withholding of this evidence for more than two decades.
CBS News’ “60 Minutes” released the footage Thursday showing Omar al-Bayoumi, whom the FBI says was a Saudi operative, casing the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.
EXCLUSIVE: A video obtained by @60minutes shows a man the FBI says had ties to Saudi intelligence referencing a "plan" two years before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – raising questions about Saudi assistance to the hijackers and planners. While the 9/11 Commission report two… pic.twitter.com/LevEwbUE4p
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) June 20, 2024
The video was found by British police during a raid on Bayoumi’s U.K. apartment days after the 9/11 attacks.
The CBS report noted that “while the 9/11 Commission report two decades ago found that al-Qaeda acted alone, the victims’ families are disputing this,” citing the video footage as evidence Saudi Arabia may have been involved in the terrorist attacks.
Curiously, the FBI had been sitting on this footage for over 20 years but neer made it public — until now.
From the Washington Examiner:
British police found the video during a raid on Bayoumi’s U.K. apartment in the days after 9/11. They also seized Bayoumi’s hand-written address book that the lawyers for the 9/11 families say was filled with phone numbers of numerous senior Saudi officials who were in the government at the time.
When Bayoumi recorded the Washington video, he was often with two Saudi diplomats who the FBI says had “ties to al Qaeda,” a finding the Saudi government disputes.
Retired FBI agent Ken Williams led the 9/11 investigation in Phoenix, where one of the hijackers attended flight school. He believes the Bayoumi video “ranks right at the top of the pile” of evidence. Williams strongly disagrees with the Saudi government’s stance that the video was one Bayoumi took as a tourist.
The British police are believed to have turned over the video to the FBI shortly after 9/11, which raises the question: why, after more than 20 years, is it just now surfacing?
“If that was missed then shame on us for missing it,” Williams, who is also a consultant on the case filed by the 9/11 families, said. “If it wasn’t missed, then I would have to ask the question: What was done with it?”
The timing of the footage’s release is also suspect given it went public just days after reports emerged claiming Saudi Arabia had allowed its informal petrodollar agreement with the U.S. to “expire”, which would allow the kingdom to sell oil under many currencies.
How many more of these kinds of videos is the U.S. government keeping under lock and key?