SARASOTA – In 2011, SNN learned of a federal investigation with a Saudi Arabian Family who lived in a Prestancia home in Sarasota. The family is believed to have had ties to the 9/11 plane hijackers who trained in Venice.
In 2011, the Broward Bulldog, now known as the Florida Bulldog reported residents living in a home at 4224 Escondito circle who left abruptly just two weeks before the 9/11 attacks, leaving trash in the home, a brand new car in the driveway and a refrigerator full of food.
“An FBI investigation showed that in the weeks leading up to that the vehicles used by the hijackers while they trained in Venice made several stops at the home. They are also phone calls linking the family staying there to the hijackers including leader, Mohamed Atta. This investigation was never revealed to congress or the public and was not contained in the 9/11 commission reports,” said former SNN reporter, Jim Spiewak.
Fast forward, to 2021, 20 years after the tragedy…
“Honestly I feel embarrassed that I wasn’t able to get more, I think it’s a shame that we are sitting here, 20 years after these terror attacks and we can’t get our own government to cough up the documents that show Sarasota’s involvement, it’s Ludacris really,:” said retired Herald Tribune reporter, Michael Pollick.
Dan Christensen, Founder and Editor of the Florida Bulldog, who broke the story in 2011, says he is still in disbelief, Former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham who co-chaired the joint congressional inquiry into 9/11 had no idea of the ties to Sarasota
“He was very upset not with us, but with the FBI, that here, years later two reporters are coming in and telling him about what happened in his own state and he was not happy, and he made it a point that he was now retired from the senate, but he made a point to go out and try and find out whether in fact this was provided to the committee and he found out that it had not been, despite what the FBI was saying publicly,” said Founder and Editor of the Florida Bulldog, Dan Christensen.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday instructing Federal agencies to de-classify FBI documents about the September 11 attacks, 9/11 families and frankly, reporters working on this story are wondering if any of the soon-to-be-released documents will shed light on this Suncoast connection to 9/11.
“We are entitled to know what happened, we are entitled to know if Saudi Arabia is as Senator Graham has referred to it a perfidious ally or not, are they our ally or are they not,” said Christensen. “We deserve to know the answers to that, and so do the families.”
