Obama blasts Saudi 9/11 bill

President Obama in an interview broadcast early Tuesday rejected legislation allowing victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia’s government, saying it would expose the U.S. to endless lawsuits.

“This is a matter of how … the United States approaches our interactions with other countries,” he told host Charlie Rose on “CBS This Morning.”

{mosads}“If we open up the possibility that individuals and 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.”

The bill, called the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, would allow families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and other attacks to sue nations that support terrorism.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) authored the measure, arguing it would let 9/11 victims pursue recourse against Qatar and Saudi Arabia for supporting groups like al Qaeda.

Democratic presidential primary rivals Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have both endorsed the legislation.

“Wherever the trail may lead, it should be followed,” said Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, on WABC radio. “We need justice.”

Lawmakers are now pressuring Obama to release 28 pages of the 9/11 report that are rumored to link Saudi Arabia to the attacks but were redacted upon release.

Obama on CBS said that a review of the controversial documents is ongoing and likely concluding soon.

“I have a sense of what’s in there,” he told Rose. “But this has been a process which we generally reveal with through the intelligence community and Jim Clapper, our director of National Intelligence, has been going through to make sure that whatever it is that is released is not going ot compromise some major national security interest of the United States. My understanding is that he’s about to complete that process.”