DeSantis calls out Trump's friends the Saudis over 9/11

[Dan Ben Noah]

For people who were raised incorrectly, selling out terror victims because of a golf deal is what you call "personality."

https://themessenger.com/politics/9-11-victims-families-bash-trump-betrayal-on-saudi-arabia-praise-desantis-over-accountability-plan

9/11 Victims’ Families Bash Trump ‘Betrayal’ on Saudi Arabia, Praise DeSantis Over Accountability Plan

Trump sealed documents related to Saudi Arabia's role in the 2001 attacks. DeSantis wants the evidence made public
Published 09/11/23 03:35 PM ET|Updated 09/11/23 06:07 PM ET
Marc Caputo

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent two hours with 9/11 victims’ families at Ground Zero in New York City on Monday.

Former President Donald Trump stayed at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The contrast of the two Republican presidential rivals isn’t limited to their physical whereabouts on the 22nd year anniversary of the terrorist attacks – DeSantis on Monday drew a sharp contrast with Trump by calling for Saudi Arabia to be held accountable for its role in the 9/11 attacks and he demanded the full release of secret government evidence concerning the country’s alleged complicity.

Trump’s administration had sealed those very documents while he was president. And after leaving the White House, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, went on to get a controversial $2 billion private equity cash infusion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Meanwhile, Trump struck a lucrative deal of his own with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf venture last year.

“That's a problem for the Trump people. That's a problem for the Trump campaign,” Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his father died in the World Trade Center Twin Towers’ attack, told The Messenger.

“President Trump campaigned on the premise of ‘America First’ and ‘Make America Great Again.’ But he didn’t do that. It was a betrayal. He put himself first with this money for his family from the Saudis and this golf deal with LIV.”

Trump issued a two-minute video commemorating the 2,977 people killed on 9/11 and his campaign pointed out that Eagleson's group, 9/11 Justice, uses a public relations firm tied to the political advisers to the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down.

"There has been no bigger advocate for America than President Trump," Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said. "On this solemn and sad day in American history, President Trump honors the victims who lost their lives in that tragic moment and the heroes who selflessly sacrificed their lives to save countless others. This is a day that should never be forgotten. By contrast, Ron DeSantis’ top political consultant works for the Saudis while working for his presidential campaign."

Eagleson's criticisms of Trump, however, precedes the presidential race. Eagleson, who met Monday with DeSantis along with other survivors and victims’ families, praised President Joe Biden for issuing an executive order two years ago that started to declassify the Saudi Arabia-related documents Trump had previously sealed. The first wave of documents that were released under Biden showed a suspected Saudi intelligence agent gave logistical support to two of the hijackers.

But Eagleson criticized Biden for having a warm encounter with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Muhammed bin Salman. Biden had been a fierce critic of the crown prince for his alleged role in murdering a Washington Post columnist in 2018. But Biden’s rhetoric changed after he became president and needed the leader of the oil-rich nation to not restrict fuel supplies amid high inflation in the United States.

Eagleson said family members were also upset that Biden tried to strike a plea deal with one of the alleged 9/11 masterminds, Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, who has been detained at U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for more than two decades. The plea deal involving Muhammed and four other suspected terrorists appeared to be put on hold amid an uproar from Eagleson and other 9/11 family members.

DeSantis, meanwhile, was criticized earlier this year for being vague on where he was when 9/11 happened.

DeSantis, who served as a Navy lawyer at Gitmo while it housed the suspected terrorists in 2006, criticized the plea deal and he also demanded Congress pass a now-stalled bill making it easier for victims’ families to sue sponsors of terrorism.

“Any plea deal allowing the accused to avoid the harshest penalties and transparency is unconscionable given the loss inflicted by their terrorist acts,” DeSantis said in a written statement that also boosted support for the Ensuring Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act and demanded the declassification of the “remaining Intelligence Community documents regarding the planning and financing of 9/11, consistent with protecting national security. While over the last three years some progress has been made, a selection of documents and answers remain unclear.”

Eagleson said the sealing of the Saudi Arabia-related records and the plea deal were doubly outrageous because he was told by the accused terrorists’ lawyers that defense counsel was able to obtain the documents that no one else could see.

“The defense counsel admitted, ‘if you guys want to see the information that we've given, you would be in an uproar.’ So basically, the U.S. government is giving them all the goods on what Saudi Arabia did, but they're not allowing us to have that,” Eagleson said.

“We want to know everything that the Saudi government did and everything they know about the Saudi government, but our current administration and in previous administrations have gone to lengths to make sure we can’t find out. We just want someone to champion this. We have a right to know.”