The son of one of the victims of the 9/11 attack has said that statements made by former president Donald Trump as he hosted the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf event at his country club in New Jersey are “completely ridiculous”.
In an interview on MSNBC with presenter Katie Phang, Mathew Bocchi – who lost his father in the attack on the World Trade Center – said that he and other victims’ families were “hurt” by Mr Trump’s comments.
“I never envisioned to be in this position,” Mr Bocchi said.
“But the reality is as much as his statements are completely ridiculous…we’re obviously all hurt by them.”
Mr Trump, who took part in a pro-am event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster ahead of the main tournament teeing off on Friday, enraged families of the victims of the 9/11 attack when he said: “Nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately.”
The former president was asked about planned protests at the event in Bedminster because of the links between the 9/11 attackers and the Middle East country.
He then went on to describe the terrorists behind 9/11 as “maniacs” and called the 2001 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, a “horrible thing to our city, to our country, to the world”.
Mr Bocchi said that not only Mr Trump but each presidential administration since 9/11 has failed on their promise to deliver justice to the victims and their families.
“We are continuing to hold each presidential administration accountable since 9/11,” he said.
“Each administration has failed on their promises to help us the bring the Saudis to justice.
“Changes are starting to be implemented, Biden did hold his promise to us but there is still more that needs to be done.”
While the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004 was unable to show conclusive links between the Saudi government or officials and the hijackers, last September the Biden administration declassified a 16-page FBI report linking the hijackers to two Saudi nationals living in the US.
The Saudi Arabian government has always strongly denied any connection to the 9/11 attacks.
“So at the end of the day as much as we are hurt by his statements on national television and sort of downplaying the entire situation for what it’s worth we are going to continue to fight and urge each new presidential administration to help us in our pursuit of justice,” he said.
Earlier this week, 9/11 Justice released an advert savaging Mr Trump for holding the golf tournament 50 miles from Ground Zero.
