{"id":8189,"date":"2026-09-05T22:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8189"},"modified":"2026-09-05T22:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:06:26","slug":"the-chilling-pre-9-11-videos-that-victims-families-say-will-finally-prove-saudi-culpability-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8189","title":{"rendered":"The chilling pre-9\/11 videos that victims’ families say will finally prove Saudi culpability in court"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Two chilling videos kept out of sight for decades could be the key to persuading a court next month that Saudi Arabia was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and that victims\u2019 families have amassed enough evidence to continue their years-long legal battle, according to family members of victims.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | NYPD detective lost FDNY dad to battle with 9\/11-related cancer \u2014 days after honoring his fallen brothers<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal Appeals Court judges in lower Manhattan will hear oral arguments for the first time Oct. 7 that connect the men in those videos to the Saudi government and its intelligence services, as well as the horrific attacks of that day.<\/p>\n

Both videos involve the same enigmatic figure, Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who helped secure California lodging for a pair of American Airlines Flight 77 hijackers \u2013 but who left the country for the UK about a year before the attacks. <\/p>\n

He was questioned at the request of the US and held by British authorities, but was never charged, and eventually moved back to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Now, about 10,000 family members of 9\/11 victims who have joined in the suit want to use that evidence to persuade a Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel that it is finally time to find the Saudi government accountable and that the evidence is strong enough to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese pieces of evidence demonstrate that Bayoumi had foreknowledge of what the hijackers\u2019 role and intent was,\u201d said Brett Eagleson, president of 9\/11 Justice, a group that successfully pushed legislation to allow Americans to sue foreign governments for damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat these videos and what this evidence suggests and proves is that Bayoumi was in constant contact with higher and more senior Saudi government officials,\u201d said Eagleson, whose father died in the South Tower on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

One video shows al-Bayoumi, who had murky government ties and a web of official contacts, and who according to a 2017 FBI memo was on the payroll of Saudi intelligence \u2013 filming the US Capitol and talking about a \u201cplan.\u201d <\/p>\n

Plaintiffs say he made it at the behest of Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the victims\u2019 families say al-Bayoumi was \u201ccasing\u201d the building \u2013 with 30 minutes of footage of the hour-long video revealing the iconic building\u2019s entrances, showing its security procedures, and even its interior columns. <\/p>\n

The 2004 9\/11 Commission report said there was a high probability that the Capitol was the intended target of United Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, PA.<\/p>\n

That report also found there was \u201cno credible evidence\u201d that al-Bayoumi aided extremists and called him an \u201cunlikely candidate for clandestine involvement\u201d with them \u2013 although its drafters say they didn\u2019t have access to the \u201ccasing\u201d video, lawyers argued in court<\/p>\n

Former FBI special agent Bassem Youssef provided expert testimony to the lawyers that al-Bayoumi\u2019s Arabic language comments in the videos \u201cbears the hallmarks of terror planning operations.\u201d The timing of when he filmed it \u2014 beginning in June 1999 \u2014 coincides with when US intelligence says Osama bin Laden gave the order for the attack on the US using aircraft.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Gary Sinise joins growing mission to ensure new generation never forgets 9\/11<\/a><\/p>\n

It was unsealed in court in 2024 despite being seized just 10 days after the 2001 attacks by British authorities and being handed over to US investigators. It still isn\u2019t clear if it was kept under wraps on purpose or, as some family advocates suspect, to shield a powerful ally. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey buried it,\u201d claimed Terri Strada, national chair of 9\/11 Families United.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very key piece of evidence, because it\u2019s been verified by CIA analysts that that was a casing video,\u201d claimed Strada.<\/p>\n

Another video shows the California \u201cwelcome party\u201d al-Bayoumi threw for two 9\/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.<\/p>\n

That video\u00a0shows al-Bayoumi hosting a Feb. 17, 2000 gathering for community members that signaled their \u201cspecial status\u201d \u2013 providing what attorneys for 10,000 9\/11 family members called a \u201ccocoon\u201d of support.<\/p>\n

The video of the party, shown inside the same San Diego apartment that the hijackers rented from an unsuspecting landlord after an introduction from al-Bayoumi, briefly shows hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar in the kitchen. <\/p>\n

Plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers argued in court it proves he was operating an \u201cextremist cell\u201d as an \u201cagent\u201d of Saudi Arabia under \u201cdeep cover.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bayoumi said at the welcome party, which included 29 men, that Hazmi and Mihdhar would \u201csoon be traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Then there is the paper trail and string of connections between al-Bayoumi and Saudi authorities. The Saudi Government, an influential US ally and the world\u2019s second largest oil producer, has long denied any role whatsoever in the planning of the 9\/11 terror attacks that killed 2,977.<\/p>\n

The Post contacted the Saudi embassy in Washington seeking additional comment about the case.<\/p>\n

Al-Bayoumi\u2019s notebook, seized along with the videos by UK authorities in Birmingham, England on Sept. 20, 2001, includes a tiny sketch of a plane next to mathematical calculations that an expert witness for plaintiffs says is a flight calculation for viewing an object on the horizon from the air.<\/p>\n

The feds don\u2019t even have the notebook with the plane sketch and calculations. Authorities gave it back to al-Bayoumi in 2002. The notebook \u201cwas not produced by Saudi Arabia or Bayoumi in this litigation,\u201d according to a plaintiffs\u2019 filing. They say the Kingdom \u201cshould make the original notepad available in its entirety for inspection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Mamdani hands symbolic 9\/11 pen to lawyer who once represented al-Qaeda terrorist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two chilling videos kept out of sight for decades could be the key to persuading a court next month that Saudi Arabia was behind the Sept. 11th attacks, and that victims’ families have amassed enough evidence to continue their long legal battle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe chilling pre-9\/11 videos that victims' families say will finally prove Saudi culpability in court - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8189\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The chilling pre-9\/11 videos that victims' families say will finally prove Saudi culpability in court - 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