9/11 Families Appeal Directly to Trump for Long-Awaited Justice: ‘You’re Our Last Hope’

A quarter-century after radical Islamic terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 Americans, relatives of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, used Friday’s anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero to demand the transparency and accountability they say successive administrations have denied them.

During the solemn gathering, family members called on President Donald Trump to release unredacted government records that could shed further light on Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom Strada, was among the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed when a hijacked aircraft struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower, delivered one of the ceremony’s most forceful appeals.

The families are pursuing a lawsuit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, contending that Saudi officials were complicit in—or may have actively supported—the terrorist plot. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens, according to History.com.

Addressing her late husband, Strada asked, “[H]ow can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?”

Her question drew loud applause and cheers from those gathered at Ground Zero.

“Yes, we finally made it into a court, and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones,” Strada continued.

She then condemned what the families view as decades of secrecy and broken promises from Washington.

“But, for 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families. They withheld evidence … they broke promises, both public and private; it has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying,” she said.

Former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden attended the ceremony alongside Vice President JD Vance.

Strada appealed to the administration to make clear that friendship with the United States cannot be conditioned on concealing the truth from American families.

“Tell [the Saudis] that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through.”

She closed by addressing Vance directly.

“Vice President Vance, thank you for being here today. Please carry that message back. Stand with the families. Stand with the survivors. Stand with Americans.”

Another speaker, who identified himself as the nephew of 9/11 victim Lisa Marie Terry, issued an even more pointed appeal to the president.

“For 25 years, the Deep State has hidden the truth about what happened that day 25 years ago. President Trump, you’re our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia while what’s left of the victims’ families are still alive to see it.”

The families’ demands follow the emergence of additional records that they contend strengthen their case against the Saudi government.

ABC News reported last week, “Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, a trove of newly obtained records is offering what families of the victims characterize in court as compelling evidence of deep Saudi complicity in the attacks. Now, as their decade-old lawsuit against the Saudi kingdom marches toward trial, the families are pressing the Trump administration to declassify more government records they believe could finally deliver justice.”

Brett Eagleson, whose father, Bruce, died in the World Trade Center’s South Tower, questioned why the administration could not apply the same commitment to transparency that it demonstrated with records concerning President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

“We’ve seen [Trump] do it for the [President John F. Kennedy] files. Why not the 9/11 files?” Eagleson told ABC News.

Among the materials the families want released are phone records involving two hijackers and documents connected to Omar al-Bayoumi, whom they allege served as an asset of Saudi intelligence.

According to the families’ lawsuit, al-Bayoumi lived in the United States for most of a decade and provided “essential support” to two hijackers after they entered California in early 2000.

The alleged assistance included locating an apartment and “providing funds just below the suspicious activity reporting threshold to help them open a bank account.”

“He was the man,” Eagleson said. “Omar al-Bayoumi is coordinating and directing logistical and financial support to the hijackers.”

The families further allege that al-Bayoumi visited Washington, D.C., in 1999 and participated in “casing the U.S. Capitol for an attack.”

In footage obtained by the families, al-Bayoumi reportedly describes “to an unidentified audience the security posture inside and outside the Capitol building, highlights its proximity to the nearby Reagan National Airport, and opaquely references a ‘plan.'”

Al-Bayoumi, who currently resides in Saudi Arabia, has denied any connection to the kingdom’s intelligence services.

The Trump administration says it is working to locate documents relevant to the families’ requests.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News, “President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history, and his team is working diligently to identify records that are responsive to these families’ request.”

Saudi officials have consistently denied that the kingdom helped facilitate the attacks.

ABC News noted, “The Saudis have repeatedly denied having any role in facilitating the attacks and replied in court that they remain ‘an ally of the United States [and] a sworn enemy of Al Qaeda.'”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also rejected allegations of Saudi involvement during a November visit to the White House.

“I feel painful about families of 9/11 in America, but we have to focus on reality,” he said, pointing to deceased al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden as the architect of the attacks.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton added to the calls for accountability Friday, saying his organization previously obtained records showing that the FBI permitted Saudi nationals—including members of Bin Laden’s family—to leave the United States shortly after 9/11.

“I’m still furious about what we found,” Fitton wrote.

For families who have waited 25 years, the issue extends beyond politics or diplomacy. It is a fundamental demand that the federal government tell Americans the full truth about who enabled the terrorists, what officials knew and why potentially critical evidence remained concealed for so long.

Their message to President Trump was unmistakable: release the records, confront those responsible and give the surviving families an opportunity to see justice delivered while they are still alive.