Pelosi said the senate, which is in session, could also release the documents Friday. | AP Photo Pelosi says classified Saudi part of 9/11 report to be released 'imminently'

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that formerly-classified pages from a congressional inquiry into the September 11 terrorist attacks will be released to the public “imminently.”

The 28 pages in question concern the role Saudi Arabia may have played in the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor. The release follows months of vetting by the White House and comes amid growing public demand that the information be made public.


The California congresswoman said at her press conference Friday morning that the 28 pages will be delivered to Congress Friday and could be released publicly before the end of the day. The only delay in their release, Pelosi said, would be as a result of parliamentary procedure that could require action from a House committee.

“But it will be imminent. And that’s what we’re trying to do, is move it quickly,” she said. “It would be easier if we were in session.”

Pelosi said the Senate, which is in session, could also release the documents Friday.

The White House said later Friday that it did not expect the 28 pages to shed any new light on Saudi involvement in the attacks, citing the previous declassifications by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"And now it will be up to Congress to decide how and when to release this information. But what you’ll find once you do have an opportunity to take a look at what’s been redacted and the vast majority of the document has been made available for public review, declassified, what you’ll find when you take a look at the document is that it will confirm what we have been saying for quite some time, which is that this material was investigative material that was reviewed and followed up on by the independent 9/11 Commission," press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

As far as why the review process took as long as it did, more than 13 years after the report was published in December 2002, Earnest declined to say when asked if deference to the Saudis factored into the decisionmaking.

"I know that there were a variety of considerations that were factored into the decision to declassify these 28 pages. I would acknowledge that it did take quite some time for the decisions to be made to declassify this material," Earnest said. " I’m not in a position to discuss what may have factored into those decisions, but the president is certainly satisfied that so much of this material, even after a long wait, has now been declassified and will be available for review by the public."