Thread by @ChrisMurphyCT

In a non-COVID world, the biggest news right now would be that Al Qaeda was involved in the first foreign-planned terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

1/ Here’s what we know and why we need to be demanding accountability from the Trump Administration.

2/ Last Dec. 6th, Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Air Force cadet, killed 3 and injured 8 at a military base in Florida.

He had been in contact w AQAP, the Al Qaeda wing based in Yemen, since 2015, including the night before the attack.

AQAP says it directed the attack.

3/ He joined the Saudi military specifically to carry out an an attack on the United States. He spent years planning the attack.

And the FBI found over a dozen other Saudi trainees at the same base with jihadist and anti-U.S. material on their computers.

4/ This is all super serious and poses many questions Trump must answer.

First, with the billions we spend on intel gathering, how did we not know a dozen Saudis who were training w U.S. forces were sharing extremist messages? How did the Saudis not know?

5/ Second, why the hell is the U.S. still involved in the Yemen civil war? The war is creating space for AQAP to grow stronger and be able to plan outside attacks just like this one.

6/ Third, why has Saudi Arabia not been held accountable, given that the last two terrorist attacks planned outside the U.S. involved Saudi citizens who embedded themselves in key U.S. industries?

These are all questions Trump must answer.