The FBI has released a newly declassified document detailing support given to the Saudi hijackers in the lead up to the 9/11 terror attacks.
Released on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, it details contact the hijackers had with Saudi associates in the US but does not provide proof senior Saudi government officials were complicit in the plot.
Families have long sought the information in hopes of implicating the Saudi government, with many coming out against Biden’s involvement in 9/11memorial events if the documents remained classified.
A long-running lawsuit in federal court in New York aims to hold the Saudi government accountable and alleges Saudi officials provided significant support to some of the hijackers before the attacks.
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The file is a summary of an FBI interview done in 2015 with a man who had frequent contact with Saudi nationals in the US who supported the first hijackers to arrive in the country before the attacks.
The man had been applying for US citizenship and had repeated contact with those who, investigators said, provided “significant logistical support” to several of the hijackers.
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The man’s identity is redacted but he worked at the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles.
The document was released just hours after President Biden attended memorial events in New York, Pennsylvania, and northern Virginia.
“The findings and conclusions in this FBI investigation validate the arguments we have made in the litigation regarding the Saudi government’s responsibility for the 9/11 attacks,” Jim Kreindler, a lawyer for the victims’ relatives, said in a statement.
“This document, together with the public evidence gathered to date, provides a blueprint for how (al Qaeda) operated inside the US with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government.”
That included, he said, Saudi officials exchanging phone calls with al Qaeda operatives and having “accidental” meetings with hijackers.
However, the Saudi government has long denied involvement in the attacks.
The Saudi embassy in Washington said that any allegation that the country was complicit was “categorically false”.
The embassy has supported the full declassification of all records as a way to “end the baseless allegations against the Kingdom once and for all”.
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Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terror group at the time, was from a prominent family in the kingdom.
Still, the 9/11 Commission report found in 2004 “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” the attacks that al Qaeda masterminded, though it noted Saudi-linked charities could have diverted money to the group.
It comes at a difficult time for the two countries, which have formed a strategic alliance, particularly on counterterrorism matters.
In February, the Biden administration released a report implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in in the 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.
Mr Gaetz, a controversial pick to be the country’s top legal official, said his selection was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to the transition of Mr Trump’s administration into the White House.
The Florida Republican had faced significant scrutiny over a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl.
He said in a post on the X social media platform: “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ (Department of Justice) must be in place and ready on Day 1.
“I remain fully committed to seeing that Donald Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
Mr Trump said in a post on his own social media site, Truth Social, that Mr Gaetz had a “wonderful future”.
“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General,” he wrote.
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“He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”
Mr Gaetz previously faced a nearly three-year Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl, which ended in February 2023 without him facing any criminal charges.
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He has always denied the allegations.
He has also been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over wider allegations including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.
The inquiry was dropped on Wednesday 13 November when Mr Gaetz left Congress – the only forum where the committee has jurisdiction.
The Senate ethics committee is deadlocked on whether their report can be released.
Mr Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Mr Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that he could face resistance from members of his own party.
A 43-year-old man was shot dead by police after calling 911 to report intruders had entered his home in Las Vegas.
Brandon Durham was at home with his 15-year-old daughter when he called the emergency line to report armed intruders were trying to break into his property on 12 November.
Bodycam footage shows Mr Durham struggling with a person over a knife in the moments before he was shot and killed at the scene.
“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and it’s something we take very seriously,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said on Thursday.
The force is investigating the incident.
Mr Durham called 911 to report multiple people were outside shooting at his residence in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park neighbourhood, where he had been staying with his 15-year-old daughter, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reports.
It was one of multiple emergency calls reporting a shooting in the area.
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Mr Durham then said someone had managed to get into his home through the front and back doors of the property and he was locking himself in the bathroom, according to a police statement from 14 November, two days after the incident.
Officers reported to the scene at approximately 12:40am and could hear screaming from inside the residence.
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One of the officers, Alexander Bookman, kicked open the front door and once inside, saw Mr Durham and another individual, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, struggling over a knife in a doorway.
Mr Bookman ordered them to drop the knife and about two seconds later, the officer fired the gun and Mr Durham appeared to be struck, the bodycam footage shows.
Both Mr Durham and Mr Boudreaux fell to the ground and the officer fired another five shots. Roughly three seconds are believed to have gone by between the first and last shot, NBC reports.
Attempts were made to save the 43-year-old but he died at the scene.
Ms Boudreaux was taken into custody and is facing charges of home invasion with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence; willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.
A homeless man has been arrested and charged over a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.
The 30-year-old man from Florida, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce, having unveiled some of his plans to undercover agents, according to the FBI.
They began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he was holding “bomb-making schematics” in a storage unit.
Bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices were found, the FBI said.
It also said he told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange in lower Manhattan would be a popular site to target, and that doing so “will wake people up”.
An agent also allegedly recorded him saying: “I feel like Bin Laden.”
He described how he hoped the bomb would “reboot” the US government, explaining that it would be “like a small nuke went off,” killing everyone inside the building, according to court documents.
The documents also claim he had rewired two-way radios so that they could work as remote triggers for an explosive device and planned to wear a disguise when planting the explosives.
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Yener, who had also searched online for things related to bomb-making since 2017, was sacked from his job at a restaurant in Florida last year after his former supervisor said he threatened to “go Parkland shooter in this place”, the FBI added.
He had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and will be detained while he awaits a trial.