(NewsNation) — A federal judge is expected to rule on a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia on whether to release a key piece of evidence in the 9/11 attacks, more than 20 years after they happened.
We now know there are multiple videos showing several Saudi officials, two in particular with ties to the Saudi government, welcoming some of the 9/11 hijackers on American soil shortly before the attack.
There are other videos showing things that allegedly suggest a direct link between the Saudi government and the 9/11 plot that flew jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with passengers bringing a fourth plane down in a field in Pennsylvania before it could be flown to a target in Washington, D.C.
The videos have not been made public, but they are described in detail in court filings that have been brought as part of a lawsuit from the families of many 9/11 victims against the Saudi government.
Two decades after the attack that killed nearly 3,000 people, many of the families are trying to hold the government of Saudi Arabia accountable, alleging ties and complicity with the attack itself.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia and all were members of al-Qaeda, then led by Osama bin Laden, who was born in Saudi Arabia and whose family had close ties to the Saudi royal family.
The families say the new videos are the most compelling proof and evidence they have found, the closest thing to a smoking gun that could be found to tie the Saudi government to the attacks.
They say “the evidence includes highly incriminating videos of the welcome party that (one of the Saudi officials) hosted for the hijackers, never exploited before by the FBI.”
The families have credited British intelligence with producing the videos, including one that allegedly shows Omar Al Bayoumi, one of the Saudi officials, casing the U.S. capitol for an attack.
The documents also indicate some documentary evidence showing the two officials describing and writing down the mechanics of how to steer an airplane into a target that is stationary on the ground. Several of the hijackers attended flight school in the U.S. prior to the attacks.
If the judge lets the case move forward, the videos could be used in investigations into al-Qaeda cells in the U.S.
The government of Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement in the terror attack.
