Saudi/Bin Laden Family Evacuation

Within days of 9/11, approximately 140 Saudi nationals—including members of the bin Laden family and Saudi royal family—were evacuated from the U.S. on private charter flights. The first documented flight departed Tampa on September 13, 2001, while commercial aviation was still largely grounded. Final departures occurred around September 19. The Bush family had close personal and business ties to the Saudi royal family. Instead of going through normal investigative procedures, these individuals were given special treatment and left without FBI interviews. The FBI could have obtained valuable information from these evacuees about al-Qaeda's financial networks. According to news reports, charitable donations from Princess Haifa (Prince Bandar's wife) had unwittingly reached two of the hijackers through intermediaries in San Diego. Several other Saudi nationals who had assisted the hijackers also left the country before being fully questioned.