A key U.S. senator called for the Saudi government to “come clean” about its ties to the 9/11 terror attacks and move to promptly settle a lawsuit brought by the families of the victims, suggesting that congressional approval of a new nuclear agreement and other measures of interest to Riyadh could hang in the balance.
“I’ve made this argument face to face to Saudi officials at the highest level that they should simply do the right thing — put 9/11 behind them and do justice for the 9/11 families,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the Soufan Center Global Summit on Terrorism and Political Violence, an event across the street from ground zero timed to commemorate this week’s 25th anniversary of Al Qaeda’s attack on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. The Connecticut Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“The Saudi government now wants a defense pact with the United States,” Blumenthal added. “It wants a nuclear energy agreement with us. I think I would oppose, or at least I question very seriously, whether there should be those kinds of agreements unless there is a resolution of the claims” made by the 9/11 families.