President Joe Biden’s “tone-deaf” lead-up to 9/11 included yukking it up with an infamous Saudi prince which was received as a “slap in the face to…families and survivors.”
(Video: CNN)
To some, it was bad enough for Biden to mark the 22nd anniversary of the murder of nearly 3,000 people on American soil, a death toll that has continued to rise from ailments suffered in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, by becoming the first president not to appear on site at one of the memorials of the terrorist attack. However, he managed to find other ways to rub salt in the wounds of Americans with his continued fawning over Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
On Monday, CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke with Terry Strada, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, and brought up Biden shaking hands with bin Salman over the weekend at the G-20 summit despite appearing to violate his campaign promises.
“Joe Biden, as a presidential candidate, swore that he would make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ nation for that and for other reasons,” the anchor said with a reference to the 9/11 report considering the kingdom a primary source of Al Qaeda funding. “Yet, look at this photo from two days ago at the G-20. President Biden’s smiling and shaking hands with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who, according to U.S. intelligence, ordered the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamaal Khashoggi.”
“And today — of all days — the White House on Twitter or X I guess it’s called now, the White House touting the Saudis’ commitment to spend $20 billion on Biden’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure. What was your reaction seeing those images?” asked Tapper.
“Well, that photo was a slap in the face to all of the 9/11 families and survivors, to see our president smiling at MBS, who is the man — the country that we are suing in the courtrooms in Lower Manhattan for giving all the money that was needed, everything that…built up Al Qaeda with Osama bin Laden and for the 9/11 attacks. So, the photo was extremely upsetting,” said Strada who lost her husband in the attack.
Biden, who previously said he’d make Saudi Arabia “the pariah that they are,” shares a handshake and a smile with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 Summit pic.twitter.com/IVT80mIxGd
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 9, 2023
Of course, the handshake wasn’t the only slight delivered by Biden who marked the solemn anniversary from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.
To begin, the president saw fit to crack a joke with a reference to his and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s (R) shared hometown in Pennsylvania. “Governor Dunleavy, it’s good to see you. The governor and I have something in common: we’re both from Scranton, Pennsylvania.”
The cringe opener only got worse when Biden quipped, “I wish I had him playing on my high school ball club when I was playing. I could’ve been an All-American having you in front of me,” which was widely received as “Unbelievable.”
Unbelievable.
— Kelkat (@Tweetytweeter63) September 11, 2023
As usual its all about him …..
— Granny Hawkins (@GrannyOutlaw) September 11, 2023
How’s the cat?
— Not Tina Kotex (@NotTinaKotex) September 12, 2023
Please make it stop
— Ginny Mobley (@MobleyGinny) September 11, 2023
Strada continued, “And the two words that you said, Jake, ‘accountability’ and ‘transparency’ is what I was hoping the president would say in that speech. And we didn’t hear either of those and he knows, because he released the documents that the kingdom gave everything that was needed for the 9/11 attacks to happen…and he’s over there, smiling, shaking hands, releasing that type of a message today.”
“He’s tone-deaf and it was just really painful to hear him go on,” she added of the remarks from Alaska and noted to Tapper that before his murder, Khashoggi “was a potential witness for the 9/11 families” and had been in contact with her organization’s lawyers.
In addition to the moment with the prince and his skipping out on attending one of the memorials, Biden really piled on to his America Last position with the White House informing Congress that they were moving forward with a waiver on U.S. sanctions to provide Iran access to $6 billion in oil revenue for a prisoner exchange. NBC News reported on the move based on a State Department document that had been issued to Congress.
Reacting to the move, former President Donald Trump called out his successor on Truth Social and wrote, “Can you believe that Crooked Joe Biden is giving $6 Billion to the terrorist regime in Iran? That money be used [SIC] for terrorism all over the Middle East, and, indeed, the World. This incompetent FOOL is absolutely destroying America. He had the audacity to announce this terrible deal today, September 11th. To pay for hostages will lead to kidnapping, ransom, and blackmail against Americans across the globe. I freed many dozens of our people from various unfriendly countries and never paid a dime!”
In his own statement after attending the ceremony as a guest of the families of victims at Ground Zero in New York City, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called out the broken promises and vowed to declassify the intelligence documents related to the 9/11 attacks.
“We as a nation sill owe full transparency and accountability to these grieving families. Yet too many politicians have broken past promises to them, and that is wholly unacceptable,” the governor remarked.
“The pain of 9/11 endures for these families and all of us who remember that day, and its history must be taught for generations to come,” his statement read. “Our work is not done until we have fully brought to light all the details surrounding the attacks, and those responsible are held accountable. I will not rest until both are fully achieved. We Must Never Forget.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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