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 The New York Times reported on Friday that Saudi Foreign Minister
Adel al-Jubeir told U.S. lawmakers that the country would be forced
to sell up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other U.S.
assets in response to the bill if it passed.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama did
not support the legislation and would not sign it. The bill would
allow the Saudi government to be sued in a U.S. court for any role
in the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I'm confident that the Saudis recognize, just as much as we do, our
shared interest in preserving the stability of the global financial
system," Earnest told reporters.
Obama, who is traveling to Saudi Arabia later this week, said he
opposes the bill because it could expose the United States to
lawsuits from citizens of other countries.
"If we open up the possibility that individuals in the United States
can routinely start suing other governments, then we are also
opening up the United States to being continually sued by
individuals in other countries," Obama said in an interview
broadcast on CBS News on Monday.
 Most of the 19 attackers on Sept. 11, 2001 were Saudi nationals who
hijacked four planes and flew them into New York City's World Trade
Center, the Pentagon near Washington and into a field in
Pennsylvania after passengers revolted.
The attack was mounted by the al Qaeda militant group, then based in
Afghanistan. No U.S. investigation to date has reported finding
evidence of Saudi government support for the attacks.
The debate over the congressional legislation has gained traction on
the U.S. presidential campaign trail. Former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, has
broken with the Democratic administration and said she supported the
bill.
Her rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said he shared
the Obama administration's concern that the legislation could open
up the United States to liability from other countries but said it
was important to look into any potential Saudi role in the attacks.
"I think it’s important to have a full investigation and an
understanding of the role, the possible role, of the Saudi
government in 9/11," he said on NBC's "Today" program.
Clinton and Sanders' remarks on the issue on Monday came on the day
before New York state's Democratic primary, a crucial race for both
candidates.
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Businessman Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the race for
the White House, dismissed concerns about a Saudi sell-off of U.S.
assets.
"That’s OK,” Trump told New York radio show host Joe Piscopo in a
phone interview on Monday morning. “Let'em sell 'em. And we’ll all
buy them, Joe, that’s OK. ... It's called a fire sale, nothing
better than a fire sale.”
The bill, which has 22 co-sponsors, passed the Senate Judiciary
Committee in January, but it has not come up for a vote in the
Republican-dominated Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell’s office said on Monday that no vote has been scheduled.
Family members of victims who were killed in the September 2001
attacks urged Obama to support the legislation and to bring up the
issue on his trip.
"It is not acceptable ... to succumb to the demands of a foreign
government that we abandon principles of American justice while we
pursue our diplomatic goals," they wrote in a letter to Obama that
was released to the media.
In September, a U.S. judge dismissed claims against Saudi Arabia by
families of victims of the attacks, saying the kingdom had sovereign
immunity from damage claims.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Timothy Gardner, Patricia Zengerle, Susan
Heavey, Steve Holland, Eric Beech, Eric Walsh and Idrees Ali;
Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
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