The facts
At this morning's Ground Zero ceremony, Terry Strada, widow of Cantor Fitzgerald broker Tom Strada and national chair of 9/11 Families United, went off script. NBC and CBS recorded her: "How can it be 25 years, and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" She said families had "proved" in court that the kingdom "fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism" and "sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers." She accused "administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today," of protecting the Saudis. The crowd cheered. Speeches are not part of the New York program.
The FBI says 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Osama bin Laden was a wealthy Saudi. The Saudi government denies involvement. In August 2025, Judge George Daniels let a families' civil case proceed toward trial, citing evidence about Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy and two hijackers. No verdict. Saudi Arabia asked to dismiss. The judge said no.
Bush, Obama, Biden, and Clinton were there. JD Vance stood in for Trump. Strada told Vance: "Tell the Saudis to stop lying." NY Post said Bush, Obama, and Biden offered no visible reaction. Trump, at the Pentagon, talked Iran.
Our take
She was supposed to read a name and sit down. Then she named the country that supplied 15 of the 19, and four former presidents looked like someone had shit on the carpet.
The FBI page is not a secret. Fifteen Saudi Muslim hijackers. A Saudi millionaire ran the plot. Every administration since has treated that like a fart you pretend not to smell, because Riyadh has oil and visits and the right kind of money. Strada said it into a microphone that was only supposed to say names. "We have proved" is her lawsuit talking. There is no verdict yet. Fifteen Saudi hijackers on four planes is not a lawsuit. It is a passenger list.
Bush sat there. He spent a presidency holding the kingdom's hand. Obama sat there. Biden sat there. Clinton sat there. Four men who had the nuclear codes, and not one of them would say the word she said. Vance got told to take a note to Trump, who was in Virginia blaming Iran, which did not stamp those visas.
The widow is not the joke. The mute presidents are. 25 years, 15 Saudi Muslims, and the people who ran the country still will not say the ally's name out loud.
