Attorney General Todd Blanche said Monday that the Trump administration plans to release additional records related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, while rejecting claims that documents are being withheld to protect Saudi Arabia or another foreign government.
“There’ll be more records coming out,” Blanche told CBS News, saying the administration is reviewing records in response to longstanding requests from 9/11 victims’ families. He said some documents remain classified for legitimate national-security reasons, but others may have been improperly classified and could be released following review.
“The one thing that we are not doing, we’re not protecting people,” Blanche said. “The reason that we’re not releasing documents has nothing to do with protecting any government or any entity. It’s just to protect genuine classified [information].” He did not provide a timetable for additional releases.
Blanche’s comments came after 9/11 families renewed calls for additional records during the 25th-anniversary commemorations in New York. The families have particularly sought information concerning possible Saudi-linked assistance to hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who arrived in California in January 2000.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would consider the families’ request. Speaking to reporters in Ireland, Trump said he would review the matter after returning to the United States.
The renewed push for records comes amid a long-running lawsuit by 9/11 families against Saudi Arabia. Particular attention has focused on Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who assisted al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar after they arrived in San Diego. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied that its government was involved in the attacks. The 9/11 Commission concluded in 2004 that it found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded al Qaeda, while noting that its findings did not rule out the possibility that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship had diverted funds to al Qaeda.
The administration has already released additional 9/11-related material. On Sept. 11, CIA Director John Ratcliffe announced the declassification of 71 President’s Daily Brief products covering the period before the attacks through the day afterward. The CIA described the release as its largest single disclosure of intelligence analysis related to 9/11. Those documents are separate from the records sought by families concerning possible Saudi connections.
Blanche said the Justice Department will continue reviewing classified material for possible release, arguing that records that no longer require classification should be made public. “It’s not as if we’re keeping records from the American people,” Blanche told CBS News.
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