Frank Lautenberg: “Today I rise to discuss some disturbing information that was released to the public today. It concerns the aftermath of…”

“Today I rise to discuss some disturbing information that was released to the public today. It concerns the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. A little more than a week after September 11, precisely on September 19, 2001, a luxury airliner 727 took off from Boston Logan Airport. It was wheeled up, at 11 o'clock at night, under the cover of darkness. That airplane left the United States for Gander, Canada, then on to Paris, Geneva, and the final stop was Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The question was, Who was on this charter flight carrying people who will never again set foot in the United States? That charter flight, 1 week after September 11, carried 12 members of the bin Laden family out of our country. When they left, they took a million unanswered questions with them. I ask my colleagues, why in the world would we let 12 members of Osama bin Laden's family leave the country at that moment? One of the first rules of a criminal investigation when you have the suspect on the run is to interrogate the family members.”