Lawmaker: 9/11 ‘28 Pages’ Will Show ‘There’s Complicity Somewhere’

WASHINGTON – Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), who has read the 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report that have been classified until now, said nothing in those 28 pages should be redacted for national security reasons if they are released as expected as soon as today.

“There’s nothing about national security in the 28 pages – if there was, I promise you I would not be so proactive in trying to get the information made public,” he said in an exclusive interview with PJM.

“Ask Bush why his administration wanted it declassified. There’s nothing in there about national security. It’s all about relationships and agencies and what they did and did not do and it’s more, in my opinion, of the fact that the Saudis came to America, the royal family, and they had pretty much free reign,” he added.

Jones said most of the 9/11 hijackers could not speak English when they entered the country on tourist visas. PJM previously reported that the consulate officer who approved visas for 11 of the 19 hijackers at the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, still works in the U.S. State Department.

Jones said the 28 pages show there is “complicity” somewhere in the federal government but the missing pages do not specifically identify it.

“There’s somewhere along the way – there’s complicity somewhere. I’m not sure the 28 pages would identify that, but it would say the fact is the American administration at the time could have done a better job and should have done a better job of monitoring these people in this country,” Jones said.

Jones, a co-sponsor of a resolution calling on President Obama to release the pages, said families who lost loved ones on 9/11 deserve the opportunity to read the missing pages. According to CNN, the report pages were expected to be released today.

“The Senate and House intel committees should then give the formal go ahead to release the report since they originally produced it,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said.

“It was Bush who decided that these 28 pages should be classified so this is what we are trying to do – we want to keep this alive. The 9/11 families have a right to this information. The American people have a right to this information and it’s wrong for the federal government to deny them what is a right of the people,” Jones said.

Jones also said the release of the pages would help Congress in developing foreign policy.

“The Middle East is in total chaos right now so anything we as a nation can glean from a report – and in this case, the 28 pages – maybe, maybe not, would help us with our foreign policy plans for the future,” he said.

Jones still opposes the Obama administration’s decision to allow 10,000 refugees into America from Syria, where ISIS is currently operating. Jones called on Congress and the president to be “more careful” about those coming from nations where jihadists who “hate the American people” are operating.

“I agree with Mr. Trump – you’ve got to slow the [visa] process down and understand whether you are doing a good or bad job of vetting these people coming in. I mean, to me that’s just common sense,” Jones said.

“The country is $19.2 trillion in debt. We are headed for an economic collapse. We bring people into this country who can’t speak the language then we pay tutors to help them speak the language – it’s just one expense after another and America cannot afford it because we are bankrupt.”

Comparing himself to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jones said, “The heck with everybody else. Let’s get our country fixed first then we can worry about somebody else.”