Newly Unsealed 9/11 Evidence Sheds Light On Man Allegedly Linked To The Attacks

A man who had long flown under the radar was actually in contact with two of the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and newly unsealed evidence points to a deeper level of involvement than anyone realized before.

Even though more than 20 years have passed, September 11, 2001, is a day that remains deeply etched into the memory of Americans and people around the world.

That tragic morning saw four carefully coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by Islamist extremists tied to the al-Qaeda network.

In one of the most devastating moments in recent American history, two commercial airplanes crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City.

A third plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while a fourth crashed into a field in western Pennsylvania. That fourth plane never made it to its intended target because of the brave passengers who fought back against the hijackers.

Altogether, 2,977 innocent lives were lost in the attacks.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, authorities launched massive investigations to piece together what happened and who was involved. According to a recent CBS News report, new evidence has surfaced that shines a fresh spotlight on a man allegedly linked to the plot.

Omar Al-Bayoumi, a Saudi Arabian national, had been investigated after the attacks. Back in 2004, the 9/11 Commission described him as "an unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement with Islamic extremists."

However, newly reviewed evidence recovered from his apartment in 2001 suggests a very different story. Gina Bennett, who worked as a counterterrorism analyst at the CIA during the attacks, now believes that some crucial warning signs might have been overlooked back then.

Omar Al-Bayoumi has been accused of having links to two of the individuals involved in the terrorist attacks Sky News

Bennett has shared her view that, based on the evidence she has reviewed, Bayoumi was not just a bystander. She believes he acted as "an al-Qaeda facilitator" who gave essential support to "two hijackers, without which they may very well have been caught."

According to the FBI, Bayoumi had been working as an operative for the Saudi intelligence service and maintained close relationships with two of the 9/11 hijackers.

Evidence unsealed last year in a federal court case tied to the 9/11 families’ lawsuit against Saudi Arabia included a video that Bayoumi had filmed while in Washington, D.C., during the summer of 1999. This footage raised serious new questions about his activities.

The footage captured several important details. It showed entrances and exits of the U.S. Capitol, security checkpoints, a model of the Capitol building, and several nearby landmarks.

At one point in the video, Bayoumi pointed out the Washington Monument and mentioned that the airport wasn’t too far away. Retired FBI supervisor Richard Lambert noted that such information would be extremely useful to anyone planning an attack.

Omar confirmed that the sketches were his but could not explain what they were for CBS News/FBI

The Saudi government, however, has insisted that Bayoumi’s video was nothing more than a simple tourist recording.

Still, other pieces of evidence have only increased suspicions about his activities. One notable discovery involved a sketch and a set of handwritten calculations that Bayoumi admitted to creating when he was questioned during a 2021 deposition.

Bayoumi explained that he had very little memory about the sketch or his handwritten notes. These included rough calculations of a plane's height above the ground in miles and its distance to the horizon.

Experts have pointed out that this kind of equation could be used by a pilot to calculate the rate of descent needed to hit a target on the horizon.

Speaking through a translator during his deposition, Bayoumi said: "Perhaps this was an equation that we studied before in high school, and I was trying to remember whether I'm going to be able to figure out and solve it or not."

He also confirmed that he had met two of the 9/11 hijackers—Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar—in Los Angeles in early 2000. Bayoumi has maintained that this meeting was purely coincidental and that he was simply trying to help them get settled in the United States.

After the attacks, Bayoumi moved back to Saudi Arabia, where he has remained. He has never been formally charged with any crime related to the 9/11 attacks.