As Saudi Arabia continues its multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), the Trump Administration’s current relationship with the country and recent arms deal are making headlines. Also, controversy builds around a confidential U.K. inquiry into terrorism funding within their borders, which is believed to focus on Saudi Arabia.
JASTA permits surviving victims and family members of the 9/11 tragedies to pursue a lawsuit in United States Federal District Court against Saudi Arabia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The Miller Firm is committed to actualizing meaningful justice and benefits for 9/11 victims and families through JASTA. Saudi Arabia has lobbied extensively in the U.S. against this law, even to the extent of paying American military veterans to speak against JASTA Congress. These transactions often occurred without Saudi Arabia and the lobbying firms carrying out proper disclosure to either the vets or the government.
Declassified congressional reports released 
in 2016 revealed financial support and coordination between Saudi officials and 9/11 hijackers. President Trump, once a vocal opponent of Saudi Arabia as a sponsor of terrorism, announced a $110 billion arms deal with the country during a May visit. Saudi Arabia is also an ultraconservative monarchy and its human rights violations are documented by multiple international watchdogs.
Saudi Arabia is at odds with Iran, and when Trump criticized Iran’s democracy while visiting Saudi Arabia, he put Acting Assistant State Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Stuart Jones in a difficult position with the press. A reporter asked Jones if the U.S. administration believed democracy was a barrier against extremism. Jones audibly sighed and took about 20 seconds to formulate his response, in which he explained that combatting extremism was the president’s current focus in the Gulf Arab states, thanked the State Department spokesperson and exited the podium, according to Newsweek.com.
While the controversial and evolving U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia is under the spotlight, lawmakers in the U.K. are seeking access to a 2015-2016 governmental inquiry into terrorism funding. The Guardian reports that the investigation into foreign support of terror groups in the U.K. is understood to focus heavily on Saudi Arabia (theguadian.com). “It is no secret that Saudi Arabia in particular provides funding to hundreds of mosques in the U.K., espousing a very hardline Wahhabist interpretation of Islam. It is often in these institutions that British extremism takes root,” Foreign Affairs Spokesperson for Liberal Democrats, Tom Brake, wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, requesting information on the currently undisclosed report.
The Miller Firm has a strong track record of winning judgments from state sponsors of terrorism and is presently accepting clients who were injured or families who experienced terrible loss on September 11, 2011. Please call 1-800-882-2525 and ask to speak to attorneys David Dickens, Timothy Litzenburg, Michael Miller or Nancy Miller. They can also be reached by email at [email protected] or [email protected].