President Obama will decide on declassifying 28 pages of sealed documents on the 9/11 attacks within the next 60 days.
The story was first reported by “60 Minutes” reporter Steve Kroft on April 12.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she has read the 28 pages, which have been locked away underneath a vault in the Capitol.
“I don’t know how the Saudi government will react to it, but I think it’s just information,” said Gillibrand on the show.
The junior Democratic senator said the families of those killed during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, should be able to read them as well.
“If the president is going to meet with the Saudi Arabian leadership and the royal family, they think it would be appropriate that this document be released before the president makes that trip, so that they can talk about whatever issues are in that document,” Gillibrand said.
Lawmakers who have read the papers say they delve into the financial and logistical support network for the hijackers—most of whom are Saudi citizens.
“That review process remains underway, but every effort is being taken to complete it before the end of the Administration,” Ned Price, a spokesman for National Security Council, told The Daily Beast. “We appreciate the concerns and interest of the 9/11 families, historians, and others in this excerpt. And without prejudging the results of this particular review, we will continue to be inclined toward transparency and openness whenever possible.”
Both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations have refused to unseal the documents. The administrations have said that doing so would jeopardize U.S. national security.
Former Florida Senator Bob Graham has long called on officials to release the documents.
“The Saudis know what they did. We know what they did,” Graham told 60 Minutes. “There are a lot of rocks out there that have been purposefully tamped down, that if were they turned over, would give us a more expansive view of the Saudi role.”
