White House: 9/11 bill did not come up in Obama Saudi meeting

A bill that would allow American families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for any role it played in the terror attacks did not come up in a meeting between President Obama and Saudi King Salman, the White House said Thursday.

 

“The legislation did not come up in the bilateral meeting,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. 

 

The legislation has broad bipartisan support in Congress. But the White House has signaled Obama would veto the bill, arguing it would damage the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia and put Americans abroad in legal jeopardy if other countries respond with reciprocal legislation. 

 

Speaker Paul RyanPaul Davis RyanDebate with Donald Trump? Just say no Ex-Trump adviser says GOP needs a better health-care message for 2020 Liz Cheney faces a big decision on her future MORE (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: Treasury rejects Dem subpoena for Trump tax returns | Companies warn trade war about to hit consumers | Congress, White House to launch budget talks next week | Trump gets deal to lift steel tariffs on Mexico, Canada Schumer calls on McConnell to hold vote on Equality Act House Dem cites transgender grandson in voting for Equality Act MORE (R-Ky.) also have not declared their support for the legislation. 

 

Rhodes suggested the administration’s repeated public statements opposing the bill were enough to assuage Saudi concerns. 

 

"My sense is that the Saudis are aware of the position we’ve taken on the legislation,” he said. “So it’s not as if they needed to spend a lot of time addressing with us. So it wasn’t a subject at the bilat, even as obviously there have been many statements about it over the last several days.”

 

The legislation has been tied to a renewed debate in Washington about the Saudis’ role in the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil. 

 

Many lawmakers are pressing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to make public 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission report that some believe details the Saudi government’s links to the attacks. 

 

Saudi officials have long insisted they had no role in 9/11, and the public commission report says the Saudi government “as an institution” and senior officials individually did not fund al Qaeda. But there has long been speculation lower-level officials did. 

 

"The president has asked for this declassification review," Rhodes said. "We have been deferential to the DNI in leading that review, and so when that's done, we'd expect they’ll be some degree of declassification that provides more information."