Background points:
- A Saudi national originally identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombing was set to be deported under section 212 3B — “Security and related grounds” — “Terrorist activities” after the bombing
- As the story gained traction, TheBlaze’s Chief Content Officer Joel Cheatwood received word that the government may not deport the Saudi national, originally identified as Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi
- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refused to answer questions on the subject when confronted by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) on Capitol Hill.
- An ICE official said a different Saudi national is in custody, but is “in no way” connected to the bombings.
- A congressional source, however, says that the file on Alharbi was created, that he was “linked” in some way to the Boston bombings (though it is unclear how), and that documents showing all this have been sent to Congress.
- Key congressmen of the Committee on Homeland Security request a classified briefing with Napolitano
- Fox News’ Todd Starnes reports that Alharbi was allegedly flagged on a terrorist watch list and granted a student visa without being properly vetted. Sources close to the investigation also told him the Saudi is still set for deportation.
- New information provided to TheBlaze reveals Alharbi’s file was altered early Wednesday evening to disassociate him from the initial charges
- Sources say the Saudi’s student visa specifically allows him to go to school in Findlay, Ohio, though he appears to have an apartment in Boston, Massachusetts
- Sources tell us this will most likely now be kicked from the DHS to the DOJ and labeled an ongoing investigation that can no longer be discussed.
Monday morning Glenn Beck laid out what he knows about the Saudi connection to the Boston marathon bombings. It is a story that the mainstream media has all but completely ignored, though Beck says TheBlaze’s Chief Content Officer Joel Cheatwood reached out to numerous other networks in an effort to get the story out. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refused to acknowledge the story even existed when questioned by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) last Friday.
But now a number of congressional sources have confirmed that the story is as TheBlaze reported last week, and Beck is presenting more pieces of the big picture.
“This week has changed me,” he said at the top of his radio program on Monday. “The events in Boston changed me….The events in Washington around Boston changed me.”
We crossed an “extraordinarily disturbing threshold” last week, Beck said, but we know “exactly who we’re dealing with now.”
After a discussion of how Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is currently under guard in the hospital, wasn’t read his Miranda rights, Beck proceeded to lay out a number of key points on the case.
“While the media continues to look at what the causes were of these two guys, there are, at this hour, three people involved,” he said. “The first one is the one we are going to address.”
Beck proceeded to highlight the background of the Saudi national first identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston bombings, Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, noting that the the NTC issued an event file calling for his deportation using section 212, 3B which is proven terrorist activity.
“We are not sure who actually tagged him as a ’212 3B,’ but we know it is very difficult to charge someone with this — it has to be almost certain,” Beck explained. “It is the equivalent in civil society of charging someone with premeditated murder and seeking the death penalty — it is not thrown around lightly.”
Beck continued, noting that after Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud on Tuesday, the FBI began backtracking on the Saudi national from suspect, to person of interest, to witness, to victim, to nobody.
Then, on Wednesday, President Obama had a “chance” encounter with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud and Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir.
“Wednesday at 5:35 p.m. the file is altered,” Beck said. “This is unheard of, this is impossible in the timeline due to the severity of the charge….You don’t one day put a 212 3B charge against somebody with deportation, and then the next day take it off. It would require too much to do it.”
“There are only two people that could revoke the deportation order — the director of the NTC could do it after speaking with each department, the FBI, the ATC, etc. — which is impossible to do in such a short period of time, — or, somebody at the very highest levels of the State Department could do it. We don’t have any evidence to tell you which one did it,” Beck said.
Congressman Duncan has detailed information about the Saudi national in his possession, and he and other members of the House Homeland Security Committee have sent a formal letter of request (which we have a copy of) to Napolitano for a classified briefing on the Saudi national and the deportation order.
Beck proceeded to highlight more key points: The Saudi national was allegedly once flagged on a terror watch list and granted a student visa without being properly vetted.
If, as an ICE official said last week, there is actually a second Saudi in custody, who is it? Beck asked. “Why were there were no names, no pictures presented? The fact is, an event was created for one Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi indicating he was to be deported for terrorism activity related to the Boston bombing. If this file was created with another Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi in mind, don’t you think we should know about it?”
Beck continued with more exclusive information:
The Saudi’s student visa specifically allows him to go to school in Findley, Ohio. He has been in this country six months. He has an apartment in Boston, Massachusetts.
If this is a case of mistaken identity, then who is the person named in the file, with the same name, with the 3B charge? And If DHS was working with the person as a source to out the bombers, then why was there a 3B Charge?
Exclusive: Why wasn’t the Congressional Committee on Homeland Security notified? Why are they being cut out of all information? This is protocol.
We are working on the family connections, and there is more to come.
Sources tell us this will most likely now be kicked from the DHS to the DOJ and labeled an ongoing investigation that can no longer be discussed. This will be the reason Napalitano won’t answer the Homeland Security Committee’s request for a briefing. Like Benghazi they have heavy into a disinformation campaign floating a variety of scenarios to confuse the media — but that apparently doesn’t take much — to prevent the story from being pursued… They are also working very hard to discredit those on the scent.
It is still unclear why the government is stonewalling the media on information as to why the file initially labeled Alharbi as a threat, only to change that designation later in the week. Is there a legitimate threat that’s being covered up? Did the government have actual concerns about Alharbi, but was too quick to connect him in this instance and is now trying to stave off embarrassment?
Bottom line, Beck said: “I need you to call your congressmen right now. There are congressmen who are aware of this, have seen the documentation — they need your support, they need your help…If we do not stand up, he is on a plane tomorrow or he is already gone.”
“We demand answers from the Justice Department and this administration.”
Beck proceeded to put the issue in a larger perspective, noting that multiple news outlets reported after 9/11 that prominent Saudis were allowed to leave the country, even as all flights were grounded.
“The Bush administration would later block the investigation into Saudi involvement into 9/11, even though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, and would eventually force the redaction of a 28-page chapter of the 9/11 Commission report regarding foreign, specifically Saudi, support for some of the Al-Qaeda hijackers,” Beck said, noting that the questionable relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States goes back further than the current administration.
But, he said, we have now taken that relationship to a whole new level. “On January 14, 2013 President Obama met with Saudi Minister of Interior,” Beck remarked. “Two days later Janet Napolitano signed agreement with Saudi minister allowing ‘trusted traveler’ status on Saudi student visitors, meaning greatly reduced security checks and scrutiny.”
“This is trusted traveler status that we don’t give to some of our most trusted allies, and we gave it to Saudi Arabia last January?” Beck said. “So they can just walk into our country no questions asked?”
“There is a pattern,” he said. “There is a relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia the American public doesn’t know about. The case of Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi is only the latest example.”
Editor’s note: We discussed this story and all the day’s news during our live BlazeCast at 12 p.m. ET:
Source: Erica Ritz, TheBlaze.com