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American Morning

'Newsweek' Correspondent Discusses Allegations of Saudi Terror Tie

Aired November 25, 2002 - 07:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: One senator says U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia are at a crisis stage following a report that Saudi Arabia funneled money to a pair of 9/11 hijackers. The kingdom denies the charge. "Newsweek" says the FBI is looking into whether two men who helped to fly planes into the Pentagon got tens of thousands of dollars from the account of the Saudi ambassador's wife.
Joining us now from Washington is the co-author of the article, "Newsweek" investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff.

Good morning, Michael.

How are you doing this morning?

MICHAEL ISIKOFF, "NEWSWEEK": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So, did the Saudi royal family knowingly give money to the 9/11 hijackers?

ISIKOFF: There's no evidence that there was any knowing transaction of money to the hijackers. And I want to correct you a little bit. The, what the financial records show is money that went from cashiers checks from the account of the wife of the Saudi ambassador, Princess Haifa, to two Saudi students who had aided and assisted, the hijackers, not the hijackers themselves.

Now, the circumstances surrounding the two men who got the money or the families of the two men that got the money, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Basnan, those are the two key individuals here. They are really at the center of this story and they're the ones that, because of who they were and what they did, that's the one that the joint, that's the reason the joint intelligence committees got so interested in them. They had a great deal of interaction with the hijackers. Bayoumi brought them to San Diego, threw them a party, helped them open up a bank account and even helped cover their rent for the first two months.

So it's the close interaction of those two guys, Bayoumi and Basnan, and the hijackers, Amadar (ph) and al-Hasmi (ph), that got the joint intelligence committees so interested in these, in this serious of transactions.

ZAHN: But you're still talking allegedly about money that came from the Saudi ambassador's wife that could ultimately have ended up in the hands of the hijackers, whether that was the intent or not, right? ISIKOFF: Correct. Correct. Yes. And I mean there are a lot of unanswered questions in the story and it is being investigated by the FBI. And no conclusive links have yet been shown.

But, a couple of points. The, Princess Haifa, the wife of Prince Bandar, long time Saudi ambassador to the United States, is a mainstream figure, well known in Washington. Nobody, it's hard for people to imagine that she would have knowingly sanctioned transactions that might have had this purpose. In fact, that seems to defy all logic.

On the other hand, if you look closely at Basnan and al-Bayoumi, again, the key figures in this, they, it's not just Bayoumi's interaction with the hijackers. Bayoumi was well known in the Saudi community, in Muslim, in San Diego, as somebody who was viewed as somebody working for the Saudi government, who kept a close eye on Saudi students in the San Diego area, who kept tabs on what they were doing and was widely believed to be reporting back on their activities to Riyadh.

The other guy, Basnan, again, the official account so far from the Saudi government is that the reason that Princess Haifa extended the money is because of medical expenses for his wife. That may turn out to be the case. On the other hand, Basnan is somebody who doesn't seem to be an ordinary Saudi student in San Diego, either. He shows up in Houston, Texas earlier this year when Crown Prince Abdullah arrives in Texas to meet with President Bush in Crawford, Texas. And according to what we report this week in "Newsweek," U.S. intelligence sources say that he met with a high placed figure in the crown prince's entourage.

His lawyer, Basnan's lawyer, says he doesn't know anything about trips to Texas. But we report in "Newsweek" that a Houston police report filed April 25, the same day that the crown prince's entourage was in Texas, Basnan reports his having his Saudi passport stolen and $400 in cash stolen while he was dining at a downtown Houston restaurant.

So, again, there he is placed by his own, by a Houston police document in Houston at the time that the crown prince's entourage was there.

ZAHN: All right, so, Michael, we've got 10 seconds left.

ISIKOFF: Sure.

ZAHN: I guess my question to you, I mean, Basnan was a guy that was pretty well known as an al Qaeda sympathizer so...

ISIKOFF: And an al Qaeda sympathizer. Something reported in "Newsweek," as well, yes.

ZAHN: Right. So let's put up on the screen very quickly, one of your law enforcement sources saying that this guy celebrated the heroes of September 11 and talked about what a glorious, wonderful glorious day it had been. How could it be the royal family wouldn't have known about this?

ISIKOFF: It is entirely possible here that they were scammed, that they were, and that they didn't know about this. It is also possible that somebody directed that these funds go to these particular individuals and Princess Haifa did not know why or understand what that was all about.

ZAHN: All right, Michael Isikoff, great to have you on the air with us.

ISIKOFF: Right. Anytime.

ZAHN: We were fascinated by this piece in "Newsweek."

In a few minutes, we're going to be joined by the foreign policy adviser to Saudi Arabia, Abdel al-Jubeir, for response to these reports.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Terror Tie>


Aired November 25, 2002 - 07:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: One senator says U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia are at a crisis stage following a report that Saudi Arabia funneled money to a pair of 9/11 hijackers. The kingdom denies the charge. "Newsweek" says the FBI is looking into whether two men who helped to fly planes into the Pentagon got tens of thousands of dollars from the account of the Saudi ambassador's wife.
Joining us now from Washington is the co-author of the article, "Newsweek" investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff.

Good morning, Michael.

How are you doing this morning?

MICHAEL ISIKOFF, "NEWSWEEK": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So, did the Saudi royal family knowingly give money to the 9/11 hijackers?

ISIKOFF: There's no evidence that there was any knowing transaction of money to the hijackers. And I want to correct you a little bit. The, what the financial records show is money that went from cashiers checks from the account of the wife of the Saudi ambassador, Princess Haifa, to two Saudi students who had aided and assisted, the hijackers, not the hijackers themselves.

Now, the circumstances surrounding the two men who got the money or the families of the two men that got the money, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Basnan, those are the two key individuals here. They are really at the center of this story and they're the ones that, because of who they were and what they did, that's the one that the joint, that's the reason the joint intelligence committees got so interested in them. They had a great deal of interaction with the hijackers. Bayoumi brought them to San Diego, threw them a party, helped them open up a bank account and even helped cover their rent for the first two months.

So it's the close interaction of those two guys, Bayoumi and Basnan, and the hijackers, Amadar (ph) and al-Hasmi (ph), that got the joint intelligence committees so interested in these, in this serious of transactions.

ZAHN: But you're still talking allegedly about money that came from the Saudi ambassador's wife that could ultimately have ended up in the hands of the hijackers, whether that was the intent or not, right? ISIKOFF: Correct. Correct. Yes. And I mean there are a lot of unanswered questions in the story and it is being investigated by the FBI. And no conclusive links have yet been shown.

But, a couple of points. The, Princess Haifa, the wife of Prince Bandar, long time Saudi ambassador to the United States, is a mainstream figure, well known in Washington. Nobody, it's hard for people to imagine that she would have knowingly sanctioned transactions that might have had this purpose. In fact, that seems to defy all logic.

On the other hand, if you look closely at Basnan and al-Bayoumi, again, the key figures in this, they, it's not just Bayoumi's interaction with the hijackers. Bayoumi was well known in the Saudi community, in Muslim, in San Diego, as somebody who was viewed as somebody working for the Saudi government, who kept a close eye on Saudi students in the San Diego area, who kept tabs on what they were doing and was widely believed to be reporting back on their activities to Riyadh.

The other guy, Basnan, again, the official account so far from the Saudi government is that the reason that Princess Haifa extended the money is because of medical expenses for his wife. That may turn out to be the case. On the other hand, Basnan is somebody who doesn't seem to be an ordinary Saudi student in San Diego, either. He shows up in Houston, Texas earlier this year when Crown Prince Abdullah arrives in Texas to meet with President Bush in Crawford, Texas. And according to what we report this week in "Newsweek," U.S. intelligence sources say that he met with a high placed figure in the crown prince's entourage.

His lawyer, Basnan's lawyer, says he doesn't know anything about trips to Texas. But we report in "Newsweek" that a Houston police report filed April 25, the same day that the crown prince's entourage was in Texas, Basnan reports his having his Saudi passport stolen and $400 in cash stolen while he was dining at a downtown Houston restaurant.

So, again, there he is placed by his own, by a Houston police document in Houston at the time that the crown prince's entourage was there.

ZAHN: All right, so, Michael, we've got 10 seconds left.

ISIKOFF: Sure.

ZAHN: I guess my question to you, I mean, Basnan was a guy that was pretty well known as an al Qaeda sympathizer so...

ISIKOFF: And an al Qaeda sympathizer. Something reported in "Newsweek," as well, yes.

ZAHN: Right. So let's put up on the screen very quickly, one of your law enforcement sources saying that this guy celebrated the heroes of September 11 and talked about what a glorious, wonderful glorious day it had been. How could it be the royal family wouldn't have known about this?

ISIKOFF: It is entirely possible here that they were scammed, that they were, and that they didn't know about this. It is also possible that somebody directed that these funds go to these particular individuals and Princess Haifa did not know why or understand what that was all about.

ZAHN: All right, Michael Isikoff, great to have you on the air with us.

ISIKOFF: Right. Anytime.

ZAHN: We were fascinated by this piece in "Newsweek."

In a few minutes, we're going to be joined by the foreign policy adviser to Saudi Arabia, Abdel al-Jubeir, for response to these reports.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Terror Tie>