A 25-year-old video has come to light showing a man identified by the FBI as a Saudi Arabian intelligence agent named Omar al-Bayoumi filming locations in downtown Washington three months before al-Qaeda decide to carry out the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The video, shot in the summer of 1999 and in the possession of the FBI, was unsealed in a lawsuit by families of 9/11 victims who claim the Saudi government was complicit in the unprecedented terrorist massacre, which the country leaders refuse.

The video, obtained by CBS and aired on 60 Minutes, includes comments from the man who filmed it, Omar al-Bayoumi, about various locations in the city, including the Washington Monument and entry points and security measures. at the US Capitol building. The man refers to a “plan”.

The Capitol is believed to have been the target of one of the planes before its hijackers were overwhelmed and killed by the passengers, causing it to crash in the Pennsylvania countryside.

Saudi authorities have long and vehemently denied complicity or support for 9/11, as did Bayoumi. Lawyers for the Saudi government have filed a motion to dismiss the families’ case, with a trial expected this summer.

The tape was originally found by British investigators in Bayoumi’s flat in the days after the 2001 attack, when he was a PhD student at Aston University in Birmingham. An address book was also found in the apartment, which the families’ lawyers say contains the contact information of Saudi government officials at the time. Scotland Yard gave the video to the FBI.

Saudi Arabia has always denied that Bayoumi was its agent. But he has long been the subject of speculation because of his ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mikhdar. An FBI report declassified in March 2022 presented evidence of a “50/50 chance [ο Μπαγιούμι] had advanced knowledge that the 9/11 attacks were going to happen” from his relationship with Hazmi and Mihdar.

Another FBI report declassified in 2023 says Bayoumi provided significant assistance to the couple after they arrived in the US and communicated with a key logistics coordinator for Osama bin Laden whenever he helped them.

The video was shot over several days and the image is somewhat grainy. Bayoumi begins in the video speaking in Arabic, saying: “O dear, honorable brothers, a greeting to you from Omar al-Bayoumi,” then adds: “We salute you, honorable brothers, and welcome you from Washington – Washington, the American capital.”

Pointing to the Washington Monument, he says he goes there to “detail what’s there” to the people the film is addressing. It also notes the proximity of the airport.

Focusing on cars outside an unfamiliar building, he says, “Their cars, you said that in the plan.”
The FBI alleges that when Bayoumi filmed the video, he was with two Saudi Arabian diplomats who the agency believes had ties to al Qaeda.

The Saudi government declined to comment to 60 Minutes about the content of the report.

The official 9/11 Commission Report, a 585-page document released in 2004 from the findings of a US government investigation, concluded that intelligence failures by the CIA and FBI were primarily responsible for the attack.

Referring to Bayoumi, the report commented: “We have seen no credible evidence that he believed in violent extremism or knowingly assisted extremist groups.”

The commission said that when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the mastermind of the attack, was asked during interrogation if he knew Bayoumi, he said he did not.