OAN Staff Sophia Flores
9:33 AM – Friday, September 11, 2026
The widow of a 9/11 victim used her platform at the 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony to demand accountability from Saudi Arabia over its alleged role in the 2001 terrorist attacks. Fifteen of the 19 Al Qaeda hijackers were Saudi nationals, a fact central to the families’ decades-long pursuit of justice for the 2,977 victims.
Speaking at Ground Zero on Friday, Terry Strada — whose husband, Tom Strada, was one of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower — shook up the traditionally solemn ceremony after reading her husband’s name aloud.
“How can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” she asked off-script, addressing her late husband.
“Yes, we finally made it into a court and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe, and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones,” said Strada, who serves as national chair of 9/11 Families United.
Addressing former U.S. leaders in the audience – including former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton – Strada voiced frustration over decades of federal policy.
“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” she said to cheers from the crowd. “They broke promises, both public and private. It has been one betrayal after another.”
None of the former presidents showed visible reactions to her comments.
Turning toward Vice President JD Vance, who was at Ground Zero representing the White House, Strada called on the current administration to act.
“President Donald Trump can still change that — tell the Saudis to stop lying,” she urge. “Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction, that we have been suffering through.”
“Vice President Vance, thank you for being here today,” she concluded. “Please carry that message back. Stand with the families. Stand with survivors. Stand with Americans. As my husband Tom would have said, that is always the right thing to do.”
For years, Strada’s organization has led legal efforts against the Saudi government for its part in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
On October 7th, Federal Appeals Court judges in Lower Manhattan are scheduled to hear oral arguments in a civil suit brought by more than 10,000 family members against the kingdom.
Central to the lawsuit is Omar al-Bayoumi, who — according to a 2017 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memo — maintained government ties while helping two of the Flight 77 hijackers secure lodging in San Diego, California, a year before the attacks.
Newly surfaced FBI video footage shows al-Bayoumi filming near the U.S. Capitol while discussing a “plan,” leading attorneys for the victims’ families to argue that the intended target for United Flight 93, which crashed into an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, was the Capitol building.
“These pieces of evidence demonstrate that Bayoumi had foreknowledge of what the hijackers’ role and intent was,” said Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, whose father died in the South Tower. “What these videos and what this evidence suggests and proves is that Bayoumi was in constant contact with higher and more senior Saudi government officials.”
Saudi Arabia has consistently denied any official involvement in the September 11th attacks.
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