Some 9/11 families call on Trump to hold Saudis accountable during ground zero memorial ceremony
Family members openly called on the president to hold Saudi Arabia accountable.
Some family members of 9/11 victims used the 25th anniversary ceremonies to openly call on the federal government to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the attacks.
During the ceremonial reading of the names at ground zero Friday, Terry Strada, the widow of 9/11 victim Tom Strada, received cheers after she admonished prior administrations, including the past presidents seated before her, for failing to get answers about the Saudi government's alleged role in the attacks.
"Administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families," she said.
A coalition of victims' families are suing the Saudi government over their alleged role and have continued to pursue evidence they say points to deep Saudi complicity. The Saudis deny that claim and are fighting the suit in court.
Many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals, according to the FBI.
The Saudis have repeatedly denied having any role in facilitating the attacks and replied in court that they remain "an ally of the United States [and] a sworn enemy of Al Qaeda."
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News last week that "President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history, and his team is working diligently to identify records that are responsive to these families' request."
Strada said that presidential administrations broke "promises both public and private ... it has been one betrayal after another." President Donald Trump "can still change that," she added.
"Tell the Saudis to stop lying," she said. "Tell them if they want to be friends with the USA they cannot continue to deny all of this -- all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through."
Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon at the time of the Manhattan ceremony. Strada urged Vice President JD Vance, who attended the ceremony, to "carry that message back" to Washington.
"How can it be, 25 years, and still we have no justice for the role Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" Strada asked as many attendees applauded in approval.
Strada wasn't the only family member who called on Trump to provide more scrutiny of the Saudi government.
A nephew of 9/11 victim Lisa Marie Terry also brought up the alleged Saudi involvement in the attacks after he finished reading some of the names.
"President Trump, you are our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia while what's left of the victims' families are still alive to see it," he said to cheers.
The White House did not immediately comment about the families' requests.
In July, New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, joined by Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler, wrote a letter to a little-known but powerful advisory panel called the Public Interest Declassification Board, housed within the National Archives. It carries the power to consider requests for sensitive government secrets and make recommendations to the president about whether to declassify them.
The lawmakers' request, sent at the behest of the 9/11 families, bemoaned the "repeated obstacles" attorneys for the families have faced "in obtaining access to these materials from U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies."
Attorneys for the families believe those records could help them better understand the timing and nature of 9/11 hijackers' communications and key events in the hijackers' planning of the attacks.
The board responded weeks later, writing that it was "actively engaged in interagency consultations to determine what equities, if any, may remain in relation to these records." It urged patience as "those discussions continue."
The U.S. has long been a strategic partner with the U.S. for decades.
Trump has had a close relationship with the Saudi government in both of his terms and last November invited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House for a state visit. It was the first time MBS visited the U.S. in seven years.
Trump defended MBS when he was asked by ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce about the anger from 9/11 families over the visit.
"As far as this gentleman is concerned, he's done a phenomenal job," Trump said of the prince.
MBS responded, "I feel painful about families of 9/11 in America, but we have to focus on reality."
The prince alleged that Osama bin Laden used Saudis to destroy the relationship between the kingdom and the United States.
"We've been working to prove [bin Laden] wrong and continuing developing our nation. It is critical for the safety of the world," he said.
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