9/11 Widow Terry Strada Breaks Script at Ground Zero, Calls Out Saudi Complicity and U.S. 'Betrayals' Before Former Presidents and JD Vance

At the 25th anniversary memorial ceremony for the September 11 attacks at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York on September 11, 2026, Terry Strada, widow of victim Tom Strada and national chair of 9/11 Families United, deviated from the traditional reading of names to deliver a pointed critique of Saudi Arabia's alleged role in the attacks and successive U.S. administrations' handling of the issue.[1][2]

Strada, after reading her husband's name, stated: "My husband, Tom Strada, you are missed more with each year that passes. But how can it be 25 years, and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" She continued by accusing the kingdom of fomenting "a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism" and sending agents to assist the hijackers, asserting that families had "proved" this in court. She then addressed U.S. leaders directly: "For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families. They withheld evidence. They vetoed JASTA. They broke promises, both public and private. It has been one betrayal after another."[3][4]

Strada urged President Trump to "tell the Saudis to stop lying" and called on Vice President JD Vance, who was in attendance alongside former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, to "carry that message back." Her remarks drew applause from parts of the crowd. A second participant in the name-reading echoed calls for the Trump administration to release unredacted files implicating Saudi Arabia.[2][2]

The intervention occurred against the backdrop of long-standing civil litigation by 9/11 families against the Saudi government, recent federal court findings allowing claims to proceed based on evidence of Saudi operatives assisting hijackers, and ongoing demands for declassification of related documents. President Trump attended a separate ceremony at the Pentagon.[5]