Saudi spy's 9/11 video sparks outrage from victims' families as they demand Biden bring justice
The families of 9/11 victims have demanded answers from Biden over a video which shows a Saudi Arabian national with alleged ties to Al Qaeda 'casing' the Capitol prior to the attacks.
Members from 9/11 Justice, which is also made up of survivors, expressed disappointment in the president, as well as hopeful Donald Trump, for failing to address the footage.
The 1999 clip shows Omar al-Bayoumi, who the FBI says was Saudi spy, walking around the nation's capital, remarking on various buildings, including the Washington Monument, before stopping in front of the US Capitol Building and referring to 'a plan.'
The video was unearthed when documents surrounding the investigation into the 2001 terror attacks were unsealed as part of court action by 9/11 victims' families.
'We're no longer searching for the words "you're in our thoughts and prayers",' Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, told NewsNation.
![Pictured: Omar al-Bayoumi is out in front of the Capitol Building. He goes on to detail its entrances and exits, as well as where security guards are posted](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/17/86466941-13593077-Pictured_Omar_al_Bayoumi_is_out_in_front_of_the_Capitol_Building-a-21_1719937268062.jpg)
Pictured: Omar al-Bayoumi is out in front of the Capitol Building. He goes on to detail its entrances and exits, as well as where security guards are posted
'We're no longer looking for to be coddled or comfort. We stand here pissed off. And our government has failed to bring us accountability, closure and justice.'
Eagelson and his group are suing the Saudi Arabian government for its alleged complicity in the attacks, something the ruling family denies.
The Capitol Building, one of the most recognizable symbols of American democracy, was long thought to be one of the possible targets in the terrorist strikes that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.
The FBI said in a declassified document from 2022 that Bayoumi had 'a 50/50 chance' of knowing the 9/11 attacks were going to occur, an assertion based on his prior relationship with the men who hijacked the plane that would crash into the Pentagon, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
Eagleson's father John Bruce Eagleson was among the 2,977 victims killed when the twin towers collapsed.
He accused the presidential candidates of ignoring the video during the recent CNN debate, despite assuring families they would address it.
'These two candidates for President knew about the existence of this video and neither one of them had the courage to stand with the 9/11 families and address this issue,' Eagleson said.
The FBI got the video after British authorities raided Bayoumi's apartment in the days after the devastating attack in 2001, when he was a PhD student at Aston University in Birmingham, over 100 miles from London.
![Brett Eagelson (center) whose father was killed on 9/11 has slammed the presidential hopefuls for failing to address the footage](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/17/86839145-13593077-image-a-22_1719937277944.jpg)
Brett Eagelson (center) whose father was killed on 9/11 has slammed the presidential hopefuls for failing to address the footage
![Khalid al-Mihdhar hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people on board and 125 people within the Pentagon](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/17/86466887-13593077-Khalid_al_Mihdhar-a-35_1719937488537.jpg)
![Nawaf al-Hazmi was al-Mihdhar's accomplice](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/17/86466819-13593077-Nawaf_al_Hazmi-a-36_1719937488539.jpg)
Khalid al-Mihdhar, left, and Nawaf al-Hazmi hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people on board and 125 people within the Pentagon. Both men pictured had close ties to Bayoumi, according to the FBI
They also found a handwritten address book that lawyers for the 9/11 families say had the phone numbers of many Saudi Arabian officials working in the government at that time.
London's Metropolitan Police handed over all this evidence to the FBI, which has sought to keep it under lock and key ever since.
Saudi Arabia has denied that Bayoumi was ever an agent of theirs and has also denied any involvement in or support of 9/11.
With oral arguments scheduled for this summer in the 9/11 suit from victims' families, lawyers for the Saudi Arabian government have filed a motion to dismiss.
The Saudis have also claimed that Bayoumi shot the video as a tourist, something retired FBI agent Ken Williams strongly disagrees with.
The official 9/11 Commission report, published in 2004, found that Saudi Arabia wasn't tied to Al Qaeda operationally or financially, a bombshell revelation only revealed to the public in 2016 when President Obama declassified 28 key pages of the 525-document.
'Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization,' it read.
The report also said this about Bayoumi: 'We have seen no credible evidence that he believed in violent extremism, or knowingly aided extremist groups.'
![A rescue helicopter flies over the Pentagon just after the plane struck the building](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/17/86467245-13593077-A_rescue_helicopter_flies_over_the_Pentagon_just_after_the_plane-a-23_1719937283258.jpg)
A rescue helicopter flies over the Pentagon just after the plane struck the building
![Emergency personnel mark off the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania the day it crashed. Passengers on the flight overwhelmed the Al Qaeda hijackers, causing the aircraft to take a nose dive into this field](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/02/17/86467317-13593077-Emergency_personnel_mark_off_the_crash_site_of_United_Airlines_F-a-24_1719937288039.jpg)
Emergency personnel mark off the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania the day it crashed. Passengers on the flight overwhelmed the Al Qaeda hijackers, causing the aircraft to take a nose dive into this field
The man who's been credited at the mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, told authorities during an interrogation that he didn't know Bayoumi.
Following his arrest by British authorities at the request of the US, Bayoumi was released back to Saudi Arabia because he couldn't be held on any charges besides visa fraud.
The 9/11 Commission and the FBI interviewed Bayoumi after the attacks, according to the commission's report.