The 9/11 terror attacks were revisited as shocking new evidence emerged, 24 years after the tragic event that shook the United States.
Footage has emerged as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by victim families against the Saudi Arabian government in connection with the 2001 attacks.
A 1999 video, submitted to the FBI shortly after the September 11 attacks, remained inaccessible to field agents, as noted in a report by 60 Minutes.
This forgotten footage captures detailed views of the Capitol doors, security checkpoints, and a miniature model of the building, along with other city landmarks.
Saudi Arabian national Omar al-Bayoumi, the person in the video, was filmed in Washington, D.C. at the US Capitol.
“I am transmitting these scenes to you from the heart of the American capital, Washington,” Omar al-Bayoumi says as a passerby films him.
It was suspected that a hijacked plane, which ultimately crashed in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, was targeting the US Capitol, but passengers intervened to prevent the attack.
Bayoumi, dressed up in a suit and tie in the clip, may have provided support to two of the hijackers, according to a federal report.
The FBI also claimed that they had received tips “alleging that al-Bayoumi may be a Sandi intelligence officer. “
The footage had been found in his UK apartment just days after 9/11. About 80 other tapes had been seized, too.
“The airport is not far away,” he says on camera, zooming in on a flight.
“Here is the airplane taking off from there.”
In one part, he talks about a “plan,” although he doesn’t specify what he is referring to.
Richard Lambert, a lawsuit consultant, told 60 Minutes, “I think he’s communicating with the al Qaeda planners who directed him to film preliminary surveillance video of the proposed target.”
Gina Bennett, a former senior CIA official, emphasized the video’s significance to the federal investigation, while field officers insisted they had not viewed this rediscovered evidence.
How unidentified remains of 9/11 victims are kept behind wall at Ground Zero with more than 1,000 killed STILL unknown
By The U.S. Sun’s Head of News Frances Mulraney:
Twenty-four years after the 9/11 terror attacks, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has identified the remains of three more victims, a glimmer of hope in the largest and most complex forensic investigation in US history.
Despite these breakthroughs, the remains of 1,100 victims—40% of the total death toll—are still unaccounted for.
“Twenty years ago, we made a promise to the families of World Trade Center victims to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to identify their loved ones,” Dr. Barbara A. Sampson, Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, told The U.S. Sun back in 2021.
“We pledge to use all the tools at our disposal to make sure all those who were lost can be reunited with their families.”
A PROMISE KEPT
The relentless effort is led by Mark Desire, assistant director of the OCME Department of Forensic Biology, who was himself injured in the attack.
Desire and his team of ten have spent two decades pushing the boundaries of forensic science to extract DNA from the badly degraded remains.
Over 1.8 million tons of debris were painstakingly sifted through, first at Ground Zero and then at Fresh Kills in Staten Island.
While early identifications were made through dental records and fingerprints, the vast majority of remains were too damaged to be identified by old technology.
Desire explained that the extreme conditions—jet fuel, compression, and other factors—destroyed much of the DNA.
“The commitment today is as strong as it was in 2001,” Desire said. “We will not give up on it, no matter how many times those samples fail.”
The team has built the largest DNA data bank in history, with 17,000 reference samples from victims’ families.
They are now using new techniques, including grinding bone fragments with liquid nitrogen, to test samples that were previously deemed hopeless.
This ongoing work is a testament to a city’s promise to never forget and to provide closure to the thousands of families still waiting for their loved ones to come home.
“We didn’t expect that this was a ‘one and done.’ We expected al Qaeda to continue to try,” Bennett said on the show.
“Resources were going entirely to trying to undermine any additional plotting.”
Bayoumi was ultimately never charged and moved back to Saudi Arabia.
“My conclusion is that Bayoumi was an al Qaeda facilitator. He had sympathies with al Qaeda–I mean ideologically–and that he provided substantial support to these two individuals, these two hijackers, without which they may very well have been caught,” Bennett said.
“Is there any other evidence that’s sitting in a box somewhere or, you know, locked up?”
Earlier this month, three victims were newly identified due to advanced technology.
