Trump faces pressure from 9/11 victims, families ahead of Saudi crown prince meeting

Ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the nation’s capital on Tuesday, a group of 9/11 survivors, first responders and family members of the missing are urging President Donald Trump to demand that Saudi Arabia take responsibility for its alleged role in the tragic September 11, 2021, attacks.

Several weeks ago, US Federal District Judge George P. Daniels, against Saudi Arabia’s efforts to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by families of September 11 victims, who claimed the kingdom was a party to the attacks. Daniels’ decision to take the case to trial appears to be consistent with the judge’s claim in his August 2025 ruling that Saudi government agents provided “essential support” to the hijackers.

“The backdrop to this visit is the recent ruling by a federal judge in New York that Saudi Arabia must be prosecuted for its role in the September 11 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 3,000 of our loved ones,” said 9/11 Chief Justice Brett Eagleson, whose father died in the attacks. “As Washington prepares to roll out the red carpet for the Saudi Crown Prince, we want to highlight the court’s findings, the overwhelming evidence of the Saudi government’s support for the September 11 plot, and the families’ nearly 25-year fight for justice.”

The statement comes on the heels of a similar call to Trump from United September 11 Families, a separate group representing September 11 victims and their families, which was issued last week.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, as well as the White House, for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Daniels’ ruling in August implicating Saudi Arabia in the September 11 attacks is just one of the latest developments in a multi-decade legal battle that began in 2002.

While the kingdom denied that anyone from the Saudi government directed the individuals accused of conspiring with the September 11 hijackers, Daniels said he found it “most likely” that there was “some connection.”

The accusations center around Omar Al-Bayoumi and Sheikh Al-Fahd Al-Thumairi, two people who September 11 victims claim were parties to helping the hijackers.

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Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was seen speaking with former President Joe Biden. (Bandar Al-Jaloud/Saudi Royal Court/Handout via Reuters)

Among the allegations against Bayoumi, who has important ties to the Saudi government according to declassified FBI documents, is that he helped the kidnappers find an apartment. When the kidnappers applied for the apartment, Bayoumi co-signed the lease and listed himself as the guarantor of the new apartment.

According to Bayoumi, it is common for the Muslim community to help newcomers find an apartment.

At the same time, evidence also showed Bayoumi traveling to Washington, D.C., along with two Saudi government officials working at the embassy, ​​according to Daniels’ ruling. Both Saudi government officials, Mutaib Al-Sudairi and Adel Al-Sadhan, had relations with Al-Thumairy, who met in Los Angeles to attend an Islamic event between December 1998 and January 1999.

After spending a few days in Los Angeles, according to Daniels, the two Saudi officials traveled to San Diego, where they stayed with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

In a later letter from Bayoumi to Al-Thumairy, he thanked him for coordinating the trip that “was presented[ed] For us, with the brothers Mutaib Al-Sudairi and Adel Al-Sadhan.”

Al-Thumairi, who left the United States for Saudi Arabia shortly before the September 11 attacks, is accused of meeting the hijackers when they first arrived in California in early 2000. He denies the allegation even though he appears in a photo with them, according to Daniels. Bayoumi, who federal agents found in 2001 to be in possession of a notebook containing various drawings, calculations and notes of the planes, allegedly met with them shortly thereafter.

US President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a coffee party at the Saudi Royal Court on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Wayne McNamee/Getty Images)

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President Trump is scheduled to host the crown prince for talks on Tuesday. Improving diplomatic relations between the two countries is a priority for Trump. He visited the kingdom in May, his first major international trip during Trump’s second term.

“I hope that Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords very soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday ahead of a meeting with Mohammed bin Salman this week in Washington, according to the Associated Press.