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A 9/11 group has requested an in-person meeting with President Biden as the nation will this fall mark 20 years since the terrorist attacks, and families of victims still search for answers.
This is not the first time 9/11 Community United has requested a meeting, but the somber date is only six weeks away. Sources close to Biden indicated this week that the president plans to visit the memorial site on Sept. 11; he also marked the date as the deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
Members of Community United don’t want gestures, though; they want answers. The group is seeking documents from the government that are central to a yearslong lawsuit it filed against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
"Twenty years is far too long for anybody, especially considering it’s the biggest mass-murder, terrorist attack on American soil," Community United co-chair Brett Eagleson told Fox News. "The families deserve the truth, justice and closure, and we need to get that from our government."
President Joe Biden delivers a speech on infrastructure spending at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"Administration after administration – Biden is no different – they refuse to hand over these documents," he explained. "In fact, the government doesn’t deny that they exist: They’re saying they exist, but the documents are too sensitive, there would be too much risk to national security to give to the victims of America’s most devastating attack."
The United States opened a commission in 2004 to discover what involvement, if any, Saudi Arabia had with the attack, including possibly funding the terrorist acts, which the commission says cost nearly $500,000 to pull off. The commission "found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded Al Qaeda" or conspired in the attacks.
However, a follow-up investigation called "Operation: Encore" lasted 12 years, until 2016, and took a deeper look at the possible ties between Saudi Arabia – long touted as an ally of the U.S. – and the attacks.
Since the investigation concluded, 9/11 Community United has pushed to include the findings in the lawsuit — an effort that has so far met with little success.
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Terry Strada’s husband, Tom, died in the World Trade Center. He worked as the senior vice president of a Cantor company. She just wants answers and "the truth."
"We’ve had enough," Strada told Fox News. "We feel we’ve been insulted enough by them by being ignored, and it’s way past time that this information is released."
"I certainly hope the president responds favorably and invites us into the White House to have a discussion," she added. "Every president before him has sat down with 9/11 families, so our expectation is that he’ll agree."
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The families hope that Biden will authorize the declassification of documents, particularly those pertaining to investigations related to Saudi Arabia, so that representatives can see the documents make informed decisions.
"They cherry-pick what they give to us," Strada said. "They’re withholding some of the very crucial documents … we’re not asking for sources and methods, we’re asking for findings."
Eagleson believes that the political motivations have outweighed a duty that the government has to the victims and citizens of the United States – a stance that did not seem to prevent the release of documents related to the killing of reporter Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.
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Eagleson claimed that former members of the CIA and the intel community have told him that one-year-old documents are as out of date as documents from 10 years ago.
"It’s politically advantageous to them," Eagleson said. "But to release the documents related to the murder of 3,000 Americans 20 years ago is too sensitive? Then what the hell is in these documents?"
The goal, Eagleson said, is to make sure that history remembers "the facts" — a sentiment shared by many members of the group.
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"My end goal is for the history books to get 9/11 right," he explained. "I want the schools and the country and the world to know that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a role in supporting the hijackers, and were it not for the help and aid that the hijackers received … there was a 0% chance of 9/11 being successful."
The White House did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.
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