Eleven lawmakers in the House, including eight Democrats, are pushing for President Barack Obama to declassify 28 pages of the 9/11 report that allegedly implicate Saudi Arabia — to some degree — in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
According to The Hill, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) is seeking support for a resolution that would make the missing 28 pages public.
Several reports claim the blacked-out section discusses how high-ranking Saudi officials donated to al-Qaida and helped fund the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
"You cannot have trust in your government when your government hides information from you, particularly on something horrific like 9/11," Jones told The Hill.
Jones is having discussions with senators, including potential presidential candidate Rand Paul (R-Ky.), about putting forth a similar measure in that chamber.
"If I thought this was going to do anything to jeopardize the national security of this country, I would not advocate for it," Jones told The Hill.
Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), who serves as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said declassifying the pages would clear up "the issues raised."
"I have read the 28 pages and the issues raised in those pages were investigated by the 9/11 Commission and found to be unsubstantiated," Schiff said, according to The Hill.
"I believe that at [the] appropriate time in the near future they should be declassified — with any redactions necessary to protect intelligence sources and methods — as this would help demystify the issues raised."
The House Intelligence Committee allows members of Congress to read the pages if they ask for permission in writing. More than 30 requests were granted in the previous Congress, reports The Hill, while eight requests were granted last week. Jones has read the pages.
Jones appeared on Newsmax TV earlier this month and reiterated his position that Obama should declassify the remainder of the report.
"There is no national security interest at stake," Jones told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner.
"This is simply to educate the American people, and I would tell you that [the classified section] deals with relationships with foreign countries and how they might've played into this attack on 9/11. I can't go much further than that."
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said two weeks ago releasing the pages "is the right thing to do. Let's put it out there."
Zacarias Moussaoui, sometimes referred to as the "20th hijacker," was arrested by the FBI on immigration charges a month before 9/11.
He reportedly told investigators that the Saudi royal family helped finance the attacks.
A former FBI agent, meanwhile, writes in a new book that he thinks
9/11 could have been avoided if the nation's intelligence-gathering agencies would have worked closer together.