9/11 Justice puts heat on Saudi Kingdom in Congress amid PGA Tour LIV Golf deal

WASHINGTON — Chief Operating Officer of the PGA Tour Ron Price and PGA Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne testify during a Senate hearing examining the business deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf on Capitol Hill July 11, 2023. | Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Brett Eagleson, President of CEO of 9/11 Justice, details how the PGA Tour LIV Golf deal has shed light on the Saudi Kingdom’s involvement in the tragedy

WASHINGTON — Two weeks have passed since the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) held a hearing on the PGA Tour’s pending deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Jul. 11.

PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price and PGA Tour policy board member Jimmy Dunne testified on behalf of the PGA Tour, with numerous Senators from both sides of the aisle asking questions about how this deal came to be.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Chairman of the PIF, were also invited to testify. Yet none showed up to Washington, citing health concerns or travel conflicts.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Families members of victims of the 9/11 attacks listen during a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations hearing examining the business deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Among those who managed to make it to Washington included countless family members of those who perished on 9/11, as 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

Overwhelming evidence suggests that the Saudi Kingdom had previous knowledge of the attacks. Declassified intelligence also hints at the Kingdom possibly sponsoring the hijackers, per CBS News.

That is why Middletown, Connecticut native Brett Eagleson, who lost his father in the World Trade Center, traveled to Washington for this hearing.

Eagleson hopes to seek justice against the Saudi Kingdom as he now serves as the President and CEO of 9/11 Justice.

9/11 Justice consists of 9/11 survivors, first responders, family members of those lost, and all volunteers and lower Manhattan residents, who are now working to hold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accountable for their involvement in the attacks.

“For our purposes, for the 9/11 community purposes, I think the hearing went well,” Eagleson said in an exclusive interview with Playing Through. “We were mentioned numerous times by different senators, with the 9/11 issue being brought up by both sides of the aisle.”

The Jul. 11 hearing exposed many details surrounding the PGA Tour’s pending deal with the PIF, including a revised role for Norman and a possible Augusta National membership for Al-Rumayyan.

Yet, this mid-summer day in Washington extended far beyond golf.

It extends to over two decades of history, involves thousands of innocent lives lost, and asks the pertinent question, what role did the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia play in those devastating terrorist attacks in 2001?

“I’ve always said from the start for us, this is not about golf,” Eagleson added. “We’re using golf, but I’ve been very clear and very transparent that our aim is larger than the world of golf.”

Eagleson wants to inform the American people of the truth.

“This is an American issue. This is an international issue. It’s 9/11, and we want to educate the American public on the Saudi government’s role in 9/11,” Eagleson continued. “It’s ironic in this country; we could use the game of golf to do that and be successful. And we’ve been successful. And the hearing is just an example of how we can do that.”

Eagleson has sought justice for 9/11 families since he graduated from the University of Connecticut, which coincided with the early days of the Obama Administration.

He rallied a group of legislators, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), also the Chairman of the PSI, to sponsor a bill that eventually became known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).

JASTA allows U.S. citizens to sue foreign sovereignties if credible evidence exists that such an entity killed Americans on U.S. soil.

Previously, American citizens could not sue foreign governments for such violence if they did not appear on the U.S. State Department’s list of states sponsoring terrorism. This law fell under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), signed in 1976.

With Saudi Arabia not listed among states sponsoring terrorism, American citizens could not do anything about the Saudi Kingdom, despite evidence suggesting otherwise.

Hence the importance of JASTA.

Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama speaks to the media on October 16, 2014, at the White House.

Initially, President Barack Obama vetoed JASTA when it came across his desk in the Oval Office. The 44th President did not want to upset the Saudi Kingdom further while negotiating the Iranian Nuclear deal.

Iran remains Saudi Arabia’s arch-enemy.

Yet, the Senate overruled Obama’s veto 97-to-1, marking the only instance of his presidency that his veto was overruled.

Thus, JASTA was signed into law in September 2016, which made Saudi Arabia’s immunity to 9/11 a thing of the past.

A little over a year later, in 2018, thousands of 9/11 families sued the Saudi Kingdom for their involvement with 9/11, as a federal judge allowed the motive to move forward under JASTA.

That suit is still ongoing as of July 2023, but the recent PGA Tour and LIV Golf agreement have brought further attention to Saudi Arabia’s involvement with 9/11.

“I want to see the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, once and for all, take accountability and responsibility for what they did,” Eagleson admitted.

“They created the conditions 22 years ago that led to the success of the hijackers. The Kingdom fought back against that narrative, tooth and nail, despite the mounting evidence, despite all the pressure, despite our genuine issues, they deny us, and they won’t accept.”

In a weird twist of fate, Dunne, who helped negotiate the PGA Tour’s deal with the PIF, worked in the Twin Towers at the time of the attacks.

An avid golfer, Dunne took the day off on Sept. 11, 2001, to try and qualify for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. The game of golf saved his life.

Twenty-two years later, he is trying to save professional golf by bridging the schism between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

But every morning, Dunne wakes up and thinks about the 66 colleagues he lost on that cloudless Tuesday in September.

Yet, Dunne did not believe the Saudi government had connections to the 9/11 attacks.

“Senator [Blumenthal], I will say now, what I said on Sept. 12 of ‘01, and what I said to my children growing up,” Dunne testified before the PSI on Jul. 11, 2023. “Anyone remotely involved, anyone tangentially involved, anyone who profited, we should pursue them with extreme prejudice, to the full extent, to the complete capacity. If someone commits a crime, you go after them. For this crime, it’s death.”

Immediately after this exchange, Eagleson, seated a few rows behind Dunne, walked up and placed a set of redacted documents on Dunne’s desk—a move that rarely happens in the United States Senate.

“He said he never heard of any significant or real connections or tangential connections between the government of Saudi Arabia and 9/11,” Eagleson said.

“That really got me upset. So I went back and forth in my head. I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know if I should do this.’ Then I said, ‘You know what? There’s never going to be an opportunity here. There’s a lot of cameras out, now is the moment to do it.’”

Those reports included declassified information connecting the Saudis to the attacks, as Eagleson’s move proved to be a highlight of the hearing.

Eagleson even received a seal of approval from Sen. Blumenthal afterward.

“I’m in the middle of the Hart Senate Office Building after, and I get a tap on my shoulder,” Eagleson recalled. “I turn around; it’s Senator Blumenthal. I said, ‘Senator, I’m so sorry for interrupting your hearing.’ He then goes, ‘Are you kidding me? I loved that move.’ He gave me a big hug and a bunch of cameras got it. I was really happy that I did that because I was so nervous.”

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — PGA Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne testifies during a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations hearing examining the business deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf on July 11, 2023. In early June, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced plans for a framework agreement to create a new global golf entity, which will be heavily funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Eagleson’s actions prompted Dunne to meet with the 9/11 families, which he did so the week after the hearing.

“I look forward to walking [Dunne] through the FBI documents and working with him collaboratively on how we could work with the 9/11 community,” Eagleson said. “We could use golf as a bridge.”

But until the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia admits its wrongdoing at the beginning of the 21st century, Eagleson and all of the 9/11 families will continue to fight on.

“We’re going to continue to push back and fight back,” Eagleson said. “We’re going to encourage Congress to continue investigating, encourage the Department of Justice to investigate, and we’re going to do everything we can to ensure that this deal incorporates our issues, community, and grievances.”

The 9/11 families have fought for justice for 22 years and are not slowing down anytime soon.

Another hearing that includes Monahan, Norman, and Al-Rumayyan will reportedly occur in the coming months.

That should produce more answers, but for the thousands of 9/11 families who still wake up daily, they want accountability.

Hopefully, the truth behind the perpetrators of 9/11 will be revealed to them soon.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.