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Blumenthal, Victims' Families Ask Congress To Declassify 9/11 Report

A section of one of the 28 pages from the once-top secret congressional report into 9/11 that questioned whether Saudis who were in contact with the hijackers after they arrived in the U.S. knew what they were planning. Parts of it are still redacted.
Jon Elswick
/
AP
A section of one of the 28 pages from the once-top secret congressional report into 9/11 that questioned whether Saudis who were in contact with the hijackers after they arrived in the U.S. knew what they were planning. Parts of it are still redacted.

The families of some victims who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks are calling on Congress to declassify documents that detail what happened that day and who was behind it, and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is helping them.

Brett Eagleson’s father died at the World Trade Center. Eagleson lives in Middletown, Connecticut, and he’s a plaintiff on a lawsuit that seeks damages from Saudi Arabia for supporting 9/11 terrorists. He says the suit can’t move forward because the report that his lawyers subpoenaed from intelligence agencies is so censored.

“It’s just all blacked out. Literally. We could show you examples of 29 pages, 19 pages where it starts talking about who funded logistical support, and there’s literally 100 percent redacted. Congress voted overwhelmingly, 97 to 1, to allow the families to have a fair trial. But that’s not happening, because we can’t have a fair trial if all the information we need for the trial is being blocked.”

Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act in 2016, which allows the families to sue a country suspected of supporting terrorism.

Blumenthal is introducing a resolution that would urge the President to de-classify the documents. Blumenthal, a Democrat, says that the bill has bipartisan support. An identical resolution has been introduced in the House by a Republican congressman.

Copyright 2018 WSHU

Cassandra Basler comes to WSHU by way of Columbia Journalism School in New York City. She recently graduated with a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, which means she has two years to report on an issue anywhere in the world (she's still figuring out where she'd like to go). She grew up just north of Detroit, Michigan, where she worked for the local public radio affiliate. She also wrote about her adventures sampling the city cuisines for the first guidebook to be published in three decades, Belle Isle to 8 Mile: An Insider's Guide to Detroit. Before that, Cassandra studied English, German and Urban Studies at University of Michigan. When she's not reporting on wealth and poverty, she's writing about food and family.
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