The Obama administration is preparing to send to Congress a publicly releasable version of the so-called 28 pages from a joint congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. The material, which has ever been seen only by a few U.S. officials, is said to outline possible connections between the perpetrators of the attacks and Saudi government officials. Three sources familiar with the process of releasing the material told The Daily Beast the pages have still not been sent to Congress following a review by the administration to determine what can and cannot be published. However, the expectation is that the cleared material could be sent Thursday or Friday. Then, Congress is free to release the report and will likely post it online.
“If the administration provides the redacted 28 pages today or tomorrow as expected, the decision on how to actually release the material would be up to the leadership,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I would recommend that the leadership designate the Intelligence Committees as the appropriate bodies to release the 28 pages, as the document was originally the work product of a Congressional inquiry made up of both committees.”
The government of Saudi Arabia has vehemently denied any connections to the hijackers. John Brennan, the director of the CIA, has said that the material from the joint congressional inquiry was investigated by the 9/11 Commission, which found “no evidence to indicate that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually had supported the 9/11 attacks.”
—Shane Harris & Eleanor Clift