He Hasn’t Even Read the Redacted Pages of the 9/11 Report
It is generally accepted that the president of the United States should have access to the nation’s most sensitive information so that he is best equipped to handle any situation the country may face.
That doesn’t mean the president necessarily avails himself of that information.
During the daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest admitted President Obama has not yet read the 28 redacted and classified pages of the 9/11 Commission Report. Congress is currently weighing a bipartisan effort to lift the ban on the information, which reportedly connects the government of Saudi Arabia with the Islamist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C.; Arlington, Virginia; and rural Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 and injured 6,000 more.
Earnest said the president didn’t have any objection to reading the 28 pages, but just “hadn’t gotten around to it.” He repeated claims that U.S. intelligence officials were likely to release the pages sometime next month.
“The president obviously reads a lot of material on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “I’m not sure that he felt that it was necessary for him to read those 28 pages.”
Some intelligence officials have said it would be “dangerous” to release that information, with CIA chief John Brennan saying any direct connection between the Islamist suicide attackers on 9/11 and the Saudi kingdom were “very, very inaccurate.” Meanwhile, the kingdom has reportedly put pressure on Congress to keep the information secret.
More recently, however, representatives of the Saudi government have said those reports were “ridiculous.” But in nearly the very next breath, they have suggested any act that would make Saudi Arabia legally responsible for those deaths would hurt the U.S. economy.
The Senate is considering a bill—with broad bipartisan support—that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government by removing its immunity from prosecution. The White House has said it may veto such a bill, despite having signaled its intent to release the 28 pages of the report.
