Brett Eagleson was just 15 years old when he lost his father on 9/11.
His 53-year-old dad Bruce was in a meeting on the 17th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the adjacent building.
He called his son Kyle to say he was OK and then made sure his employees got out safely.
As he was picking up two-way radios, United Flight 175 hit, and he was killed.
Two decades on, Brett honors his father by pushing for answers for families still enduring the healing process.
His tireless campaign has focused on the effort to expose any links between the hijackers who murdered 2,977 people and the Saudi Arabian government.
Now Eagleson has a message to the White House and the candidates who will be marking the anniversary of the attack this week: Don’t do any deals with the Kingdom before revealing the truth.
Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when he lost his father Bruce (pictured right with him) in the South Tower 23 years ago, has urged the 2024 presidential candidates not to accept a peace deal with Saudi Arabia until the Kingdom is held to account for their alleged complicity in 9/11
When Kamala Harris debate on Tuesday night, preparations will be under way in New York City for a memorial service 23 years since carnage erupted in downtown Manhattan.
A Pennsylvania town 227 miles away will also be preparing to remember the ultimate sacrifice.
On Wednesday, it will be 23 years since 33 passengers and seven crew members on United Airlines Flight 93 fought back against four hijackers.
Their selfless decision on 9/11 to retake control of the aircraft caused the plane to crash in a field outside of Shanksville rather than into the terrorists’ intended targets: The U.S. Capitol building or the White House.
Hijackers on the three other flights accomplished their missions of total destruction and devastation: Hitting the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
The fearless revolt on the ‘fourth’ plane saved countless lives on the ground, but the heroes who thwarted the plot would be among the 3,000 killed that fateful day.
Every year, tributes are paid and the nation reflects on the attack that changed American history.
But this year the services will come less than 24 hours after one of the most pivotal events of the 2024 election.
Eagleson has for years fought on behalf of the grieving relatives demanding answers. He has written letters on behalf of 3,000 family members to both campaigns
The families of the victims are continuing their pursuit for justice and search for answers over Saudi Arabia’s complicity.
They are also making sure the attacks don’t slip in the nation’s conscience as Harris and Trump vie for the White House.
Eagleson has for years fought on behalf of the grieving relatives demanding answers.
As the President of 9/11 Justice, he wrote letters representing 3,000 family members to both the Harris and Trump campaigns urging them to sign a pledge to make Saudi Arabia address any role they had in the attacks.
Fifteen of the 19 Al Qaeda hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but their links to the government have been shrouded in mystery.
However, more evidence of the kingdom’s alleged role has come to light as cases have made their way through the courts and more documents have been declassified.
Their message to each candidate is: Don’t agree to any peace deal with the Saudis before you make they come clean about any part they played.
Both Biden and Trump have pushed for a deal to normalize relations between Israel and the Saudis.
An agreement, they hope, would lead to greater cooperation over nuclear strategies and act as a counter to Iran.
The diplomacy has, however, been complicated since the outset of the war in Gaza when Hamas launched their terrorist attack on October 7.
‘As you campaign to become the next President of the United States, we ask you to pledge that you will not endorse any Middle East peace deal involving Saudi Arabia unless it fully addresses the role of the Saudi Arabian government in the 9/11 attacks,’ the letter reads.
Harris, Trump and President Joe Biden are planning to mark the day, as they do every year.
As the President of 9/11 Justice, Eagleson wrote letters representing 3,000 family members to both the Harris and Trump campaigns urging them to sign a pledge to make Saudi Arabia address any role they had in the attacks
September 11th victim Bruce Eagleson, with his children Kyle, Tim and Brett at a wedding in 1993
Harris will be at Ground Zero, and then will visit the Pentagon and the memorial in Shanksville.
Biden, who sparked fury by being in Alaska for last year’s anniversary, is also set to visit the three sites.
Eagleson told DailyMail.com it is a ‘bold move’ for the candidates to use ‘our hallowed ground’ for a ‘political stunt’.
He added that neither campaign had responded to the family letter at the time of publication and says there has been ‘crickets’ from the White House.
DailyMail.com has reached out to both campaigns for comment.
Relatives are also planning to be outside the debate venue in Philadelphia during the ABC primetime showdown.
‘We’re asking them to put Americans before foreign policy interests, and put the memories and the honor of our loved ones first before any deal can be made with Saudi Arabia.’
He added that unless they are willing to sign the pledge from the families, the candidate’s and president’s appearance at Ground Zero would be ‘pretty gutsy’.
‘If they expect to come to Ground Zero and bury their heads in Saudi Arabian sand, I think they’re going to feel a lot of pressure from those family members.’
The Saudi Royal Family has denied direct involvement in the attacks, but litigation is ongoing.
The 9/11 families are suing the Kingdom and have demanded all the evidence be released.
In recent months, more damning revelations have come to light.
At the end of June, a video surfaced showing a Saudi national, with alleged ties to Al Qaeda, scoping landmarks in Washington D.C. less than two years before the attack.
In the video, shot in the summer of 1999, Omar al-Bayoumi walked around the nation’s capital remarking on various buildings.
He admired the Washington Monument, then stopped in front of the US Capitol Building and referred to ‘a plan.’
The video of al-Bayoumi has been in the possession of the FBI for decades – but was just unsealed thanks to the court case from relatives of the victims.
The FBI said in a declassified document from 2022 that al-Bayoumi had ‘a 50/50 chance’ of knowing the 9/11 attacks were going to occur.
The assertion is based on his prior relationship with the men who hijacked the plane that would crash into the Pentagon, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
Families of the Americans murdered in Osama Bin Laden’s plot 23 years ago worry that the diabolical actions of the terrorists are quickly being forgotten.
The changing attitudes towards the 9/11 mastermind and Al Qaeda are on a concerning trajectory.
In December, a DailyMail.com poll found one in five young Americans have a positive view of Bin Laden and believe some of his ideologies were a ‘force for good’.
Family members of 9/11 victims said the findings were ‘horrifying’ and proof of a startling trend suggesting some in the younger generation are growing sympathetic to terrorists.
Bin Laden orchestrated the 2001 hijackings that killed 2,977 people and injured thousands.
He was also behind multiple plots that have slain countless others around the world.
When Kamala Harris debate on Tuesday night, preparations will be under way in New York City for a memorial service 23 years since carnage erupted in downtown Manhattan. 227 miles away in Shanksville, they will be preparing to remember the ultimate sacrifice
The annual Tribute in Light is illuminated over the skyline of lower Manhattan ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks
The mass murderer was shot and killed by Navy SEALS at his compound in Pakistan in May 2011 after a global manhunt.
Then in August, the case of alleged masterminds being held in Guantanamo Bay took a dramatic twist as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a deal that would have spared them the death penalty.
Austin said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices were no longer eligible for life sentences in prison, and faced the prospect of a trial.
Eagleson says the families have been kept in the dark and not consulted in the process of bringing the suspects to account.
And, 23 years after he lost his father in the atrocity, he has this message for both 2024 Presidential candidates: ‘The pledge is very simple. It’s saying, honor the lives of our lost loved ones.
‘Justice and closure for the victims and their families must be a priority in our foreign policy.’
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