New 9/11 Docs Won't Help Survivors' Case Against Saudis: Lawyers

NEW YORK CITY — President Joe Biden's executive order to release declassified 9/11 investigation documents will do nothing to help victims' family members seeking redress from the Saudi Arabian government in New York's federal courts, the country's attorneys say.

Attorneys argued Tuesday against a deadline extension, asserting the yet-to-be released documents would only prove that plaintiffs had no case against the Saudi Arabian government, court records show.

"Recognizing that the documentary and testimonial evidence has established their claims to be meritless, Plaintiffs have sought extension after extension," attorney Michael Kellogg wrote in a letter filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

"There is no legitimate reason to believe that any forthcoming production will advance Plaintiffs case."

Kellogg's letter came days after President Biden agreed to release the documents — which family members hope will prove Saudi Arabian leaders helped finance the Sept. 11 attacks — after years of lobbying from thousands connected to the case.

Victims' relatives, who first sued Saudi Arabia in 2017, believe evidence was buried to protect the U.S.'s diplomatic relationships with the oil-rich nation.

"Department of Justice and the FBI have actively sought to keep this information secret and prevent the American people from learning the full truth," the survivors, family members and first responders said in a joint statement published by NBC News.

"As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and having been used as a political bargaining chip for two decades, our patience has expired."

Biden issued the order — which directs Attorney General Merrick Garland to conduct a declassification review but does not order the release of specific documents — after family members asked him not to attend 20th-anniversary ceremonies in New York and Pennsylvania before doing so.

The same day, the plaintiffs' attorneys asked for an extension of a Sept. 15 discovery deadline to review incoming evidence and update reports, court records show.

But Kellogg — a D.C. attorney who has spent nearly 20 years defending Saudi officials and royalty in U.S. courts — argued the discovery period has already lasted more than three years and has yet to produce concrete evidence of senior Saudi officials' involvement.

"Even Plaintiffs have not offered any reason to delay the deadline for these expert reports... which appear to be similarly irrelevant and conduits for inadmissible hearsay," Kellogg wrote.

"Nothing in the Executive Order presents good cause for extending the current September 15, 2021 deadline for Plaintiffs’ expert reports, much less for staying that deadline indefinitely as Plaintiffs request."