Ari Fleischer has drawn suspicion for announcing the end of his near-annual recounting of the 9/11 attacks after being hired by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour. Fleischer, a former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush and a Fox News contributor, on Monday dismissed the accusations as “foolish conspiracy theory.”
On the Saturday before the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attack that killed thousands, Fleischer tweeted: “I have decided that my story has been told and I will not live tweet what took place on 9/11 again. ... It’s time to let it rest. There is nothing new to say or reveal. Thank you for reading and for caring about our nation’s history. ”
“Cannot get over Ari Fleischer getting a PR job with the Saudis and then announcing that actually his 9/11 play-by-play tweets have run their course,” The Hill reporter Zack Budryk responded.
The Saudi government has denied being involved in carrying out the 9/11 attacks. Last year, the FBI unsealed a document that detailed contacts a few of the hijackers (many of whom were Saudi citizens) had with Saudi officials, but it did not provide proof that senior officials were complicit.
Fleischer, who spent much of the fateful day in 2001 with Bush, had his gripping accounts reported by HuffPost as well.
His PR firm Fleischer Communications signed on as a communications consultant for the upstart LIV tour in June.
“As I explained in my tweets, my travel schedule this year and the fact that after 21 years there is nothing new to say or reveal, led me to the decision I made,” he said in a statement to HuffPost. “Any other reason being speculated is a foolish conspiracy theory.”
But many questioned the timing.