Following President Biden’s recently signed executive order for the declassification of many of the remaining documents relating to the Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Dept. on Saturday night released its first one – a heavily redacted 16-page report from April 2016.
While not yet considered a smoking gun in terms of proving high level Saudi foreknowledge and complicity, it does contain new information on a Saudi student in California at the time, Omar al-Bayoumi, who is shown to have aided two of the 9/11 hijackers while enjoying close ties with Saudi diplomats. The memo ultimately shines more light on what appears Saudi intelligence continuing contact with some of the hijackers leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
Bayoumi like other persons of interest investigated by the FBI had connections to the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, and an associate of his maintained “anecdotes of personal interactions with Consular leadership,” when questioned by the FBI.
