(NewsNation) — A new letter shows the US government is siding with Saudi Arabia and opposing the disclosure of evidence related to the September 11 attacks.
The families of those who died on 9/11 have it filed a lawsuit The quest to reveal evidence, they say, shows the Saudi government was complicit in the attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in 9/11 were Saudis, and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden also had ties to the Saudi royal family. However, the country has denied any involvement in the attack that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The Justice Department and the FBI sent a letter to the judge overseeing the lawsuit between the 9/11 victims and Saudi Arabia, asking him not to unseal material the families are pressing to make public.
The letter, obtained from court records, states that never-before-seen evidence should not be released when the agency has not had a chance to review it.
“In the FBI's view, it is inappropriate to seek a blanket Privacy Act order unsealing a large collection of documents before the FBI has had an opportunity to review them. The subpoenaed materials in the PECs' filings, including their 564-page statement, and the documents marked in the depositions are voluminous, involving a wide range of privacy interests and information of varying levels of potential relevance to the matters at issue in the proceeding pending motions,” the letter says.
“Furthermore, although most of the redactions identified through the FBI's review to date have been subject to the Privacy Act, the FBI has a broader law enforcement interest in preventing the wholesale public release of personally identifiable information about individuals in the United States who were witnesses or of investigative interest in FBI investigations.”
Lawyers representing the families of 9/11 victims and those representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have gone back and forth over what evidence should remain sealed and what should be made public.
The families recently posted a video They say it shows a Saudi intelligence official shelling the US Capitol at the same time al-Qaida was determining targets for the 9/11 attacks.
They told NewsNation they were surprised to see the FBI intervene on the Saudi government's side of the matter.
The FBI noted that if either side wanted something unsealed, it could review the material and make a case-by-case judgment about whether it should be released.
But that doesn't sit well with the families, who say the agency has had more than 20 years review the evidence and decide what should remain classified. Now they want everything to be made public.
NewsNation has reached out to the FBI for comment.
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