SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
One group of people was watching especially closely when the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, visited the U.S. this week - the families of 9/11 victims. Most of the September 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens. So was the alleged mastermind of the attacks, al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden. And numerous 9/11 families have filed a federal civil lawsuit alleging that Saudi Arabia was more involved in the attacks than acknowledged. The Saudi government has repeatedly denied these allegations.
So how did those families feel about the prince's visit and his meeting with President Trump? We're putting that question to Brett Eagleson, a Connecticut resident whose father, John, died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Brett, thank you for coming on the program again.
BRETT EAGLESON: Thank you for having me.
PFEIFFER: Would you first describe how you felt when you heard that the crown prince would be visiting this week?
EAGLESON: It felt like another punch in the gut from the United States government. We have been fighting and advocating to be heard for 24 years now. And from administration to administration, it feels as if no one has had our back.
PFEIFFER: This week isn't the first time since 9/11 that the prince, or MBS - his acronyms, as you referred to him - has come to the U.S. or met with a U.S. president. He met Trump here in 2018, and he got a friendly fist bump from Joe Biden in Saudi Arabia in 2022. How did you feel about those interactions versus this week's?
EAGLESON: Well, it's sort of the same. We just can't seem to understand it, but this time, it's even more egregious because of the fact that in August of this year - so a few short months ago - the federal judge made a conclusion that based on the review of the evidence that was presented to him - which were thousands of pages, hundreds of documents, newly declassified evidence, new evidence obtained - based on his view, we are moving towards a trial.
PFEIFFER: Yet there are many foreign policy examples of the U.S. tolerating questionable behavior by other countries, even bad behavior, because they are U.S. allies. That's at play here. How do you think the U.S. should walk that tightrope, especially in the context of 9/11 and the thousands of people who died that day?
EAGLESON: So that's a very important question, and I am certainly not one to advocate that we shouldn't have a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia. What I'm saying, and what many members of my community are saying, is that none of that should be allowed to happen until the sins of the past are addressed, and there's a reckoning and there's an accountability and we set the historical fact pattern right.
Then one thing I want to just say, Sacha, is I'm sort of very disappointed - the fact that the Democrats haven't used this to jump on. You know, you see the Democrats criticize Trump for anything that they could imagine, any branch they're reaching for. Well, this is red meat presented right to them. So I think that there should be more outrage from all aspects here.
PFEIFFER: If you had a chance to speak with the crown prince, what would you say?
EAGLESON: I would tell him that we are not his enemy. I would tell him that we want to move forward in a positive direction. We want peace just as much as he wants peace. We want a strong relationship with his country just as much as he wants a strong relationship with the United States. But you have a historic opportunity to do something so incredibly profound, that having a reckoning with the 9/11 community would be the best thing for your country's image and would be the best thing for our relationship moving forward.
PFEIFFER: That's Brett Eagleson, whose father died on 9/11. Brett, thank you.
EAGLESON: Thank you for having me.
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