Patrick Flannery could not have known that the man who entered his family’s Arizona restaurant would later commit an atrocity that reshaped world history. But he knew he would never forget the man’s piercing stare.

Those striking brown eyes belonged to Hani Hanjour, the al-Qaeda terrorist who later hijacked the plane that crashed into the Pentagon during the September 11 attacks.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Flannery has spoken for the first time about his unsettling encounters with the restaurant regular—and why the memories have stayed with him for more than 25 years.

Around the turn of the century, an otherwise routine day at the Left Seat Restaurant at Scottsdale Airport was interrupted when five men in grey overalls approached the counter to pay for lunch.

Flannery assumed they were pilots, part of the regular flow of aviation students and private-jet customers who visited the restaurant.

His mother had noticed the men first. She touched Flannery’s hand and leaned over to tell him: ‘Those are Saudi pilots who are taking flying lessons here.’ Then she added words that would later sound unbearably ironic: ‘Isn’t that neat? They are our allies.’

Flannery turned to look. In the center of the group stood an obvious leader, cracking jokes in Arabic and sending the others into fits of laughter.

Although he could not understand the conversation, Flannery remembers the man’s moustache, short hair and light stubble, along with his ‘piercing eyes that bore into you.’ Above all, he recalls the direct eye contact they shared from barely two feet apart.

He continued with his day, but the man’s face remained fixed in his memory.

‘The image of his face burned in my brain,’ Flannery recalled. ‘It never left me.’

Less than two years later, photographs of the 19 September 11 hijackers appeared across television screens. Flannery says he recognized the man immediately.

‘There he was. I mean, clean as day,’ he said. ‘I would never forget this guy’s face.’

The man Flannery identified was Hani Hanjour, who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 before it struck the Pentagon on September 11.

Five hijackers seized Flight 77 after it departed Washington Dulles. The Boeing 757 was turned back toward Washington and, at 9.37am, deliberately flown into the Pentagon. All 64 people aboard the aircraft and 125 people inside the building were killed.

Hanjour spent considerable time in Arizona training as a pilot. He earned a private pilot’s license before receiving a Federal Aviation Administration commercial pilot certificate in 1999. He later returned to Arizona with fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi for additional training.

For Flannery, the scale of Hanjour’s crimes made that seemingly ordinary meeting—and the memory of it—almost impossible to live with.

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The revelation was all the more unsettling because the men were far from strangers to the restaurant. Flannery’s family had owned the Left Seat from 1987 until February 2000, and the men came in repeatedly while taking flying lessons. Margie, Flannery’s longtime partner, worked there and served them frequently.

The other waiters did not particularly want their tables, but the reason was strikingly mundane: the men were known never to tip. 

According to Flannery, his mom pointed out Nawaf al-Hazmi after the attacks and told him that she had seen him eat at the family restaurant several times. Al-Hazmi was one of the five hijackers aboard Flight 77 alongside Hanjour and also trained at the airfield.

For Flannery, the discoveries brought a terrible sense of guilt. ‘You can imagine the shock and horror that our family felt knowing that these evil men had eaten at our restaurant.’ 

He added: ‘I still feel bad in my heart that we served them food.’

But while those encounters seemed utterly unremarkable inside the restaurant, elsewhere in Arizona questions were beginning to surface.

In July 2001, FBI agent Kenneth Williams, working out of Phoenix, wrote a memorandum raising concerns about the number of people of investigative interest attending civil aviation schools in the state. Williams suggested that Osama bin Laden might be directing students to the United States for flight training and urged the FBI to examine the pattern more closely.

The memorandum became known as the Phoenix Memo. It did not identify the September 11 plot, nor was it specifically a warning about suicide pilots. But it showed that, before the attacks, an FBI agent had already noticed an unusual pattern around Arizona’s flight schools.

Flannery knew nothing of the memo. He had no reason to connect the men sitting at his family’s tables with anything more sinister than a flying lesson and a meal they would, as the staff had learned, leave without tipping.

For years, he kept the story largely to himself. He said the memory ‘tainted’ how he saw his family restaurant, ‘hurt his heart’ and left him with ‘a sour feeling in my stomach.’

‘I didn’t share this with anyone in the media for all these years because actually it is still hurtful,’ he said.

He had once imagined he might ‘let the story die with me’ when his time came. Then, as the 25th anniversary passed, the documentaries and coverage brought the memory back with renewed force. 

‘Every single year I think of that man’s face because I was so close to him,’ Flannery said. ‘You never know who you’re standing next to anymore.’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife has remained a constant presence as he leads the Department of War, accompanying him to official functions, meeting President Trump, training alongside Marines and, controversially, attending sensitive high-level discussions.

Now, as military whistleblowers issue an “urgent SOS” over what they describe as an increasingly embattled Hegseth, 46, and accuse him of treating the Defense Department like a personal fiefdom, Jennifer Hegseth is also facing scrutiny.

Jennifer’s unusually influential—though unofficial—role at the Pentagon has reportedly unsettled staff. Some Department of Defense employees have privately likened the 49-year-old to “Yoko Ono,” according to the Daily Mail.

“Now there’s a woman with an extremely tight leash on the man she married,” one source told the publication.

Jennifer, however, appears undeterred. Her continued visibility comes as military personnel have criticized her husband as one of the least qualified and most volatile defense secretaries in U.S. history.

After initially taking a less prominent role in her husband’s public life, Jennifer—formerly known as Jennifer Rauchet during her years as a Fox News producer—now appears to be stepping further into the spotlight.

She frequently posts on social media about life as a Pentagon spouse, including her attendance at a D-Day commemoration in France, where she honored fallen service members, and a garden party in Virginia for military mothers.

Last month, the White House announced that Jennifer would become chairwoman of the first Presidential Military Spouse Commission. During the Oval Office announcement, she stood only inches from Trump while Hegseth kissed her cheek.

Jennifer Hegseth’s Presence Raises Concerns

“Every time [Hegseth] travels around to the troops, he tells them that the president has [their] back. And now the families know that you have their back, too, and we are grateful,” she told Trump.

Away from the cameras, though, Jennifer’s involvement has prompted questions inside and outside the Pentagon.

Concern grew last year after reports that she had accompanied Hegseth to closed-door meetings with foreign defense officials, including a NATO headquarters discussion in Brussels involving Ukraine and his international counterparts.

Sources said at the time that Jennifer was seen taking notes and photographs during some of the meetings. 

Reports later indicated that she had also been included in a sensitive Signal chat concerning U.S. military operations during a strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen, despite having no official position at the Pentagon.

Jennifer was also reportedly involved in efforts to keep reporters out of the Pentagon, part of a series of decisions critics say reduced transparency at the department.

Other insiders have compared her to Yoko Ono, the wife of late Beatles musician John Lennon, who was widely viewed as fiercely protective of her husband and closely involved in managing his public image.

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Some sources have suggested that Jennifer’s close oversight stems from an effort to protect Hegseth from trouble amid his history of drinking and repeated allegations of alcohol abuse. Hegseth has denied that he has a drinking problem.

“She’s like his parole officer and PR agent all at once,” a source previously told the Daily Mail.

Pentagon Defends Jennifer Hegseth’s Growing Role

The couple often praise each other on social media and highlight their family life. They met in 2016 while working at Fox News, when both were married to other people.

They married in 2019 at one of Trump’s country clubs. Their daughter, Gwen, attended the ceremony alongside six children from their previous marriages.

After Hegseth took over at the Pentagon, a source said Jennifer had at least once asked the Defense Department’s public affairs team to include more information about his family values and military background in official news releases. 

In response to the ongoing scrutiny, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described Hegseth’s wife as ‘an accomplished leader in her own right and a devoted military spouse.’ 

‘She is a vital asset and a true force multiplier for our mission,’ he said in a statement. 

‘Because of her exceptional capability and the profound impact of her work, the Department of War not only welcomes her current leadership but actively plans to involve her even more deeply in the future. She is simply that valuable to our community and our nation.’

Pentagon Insiders Describe Chaos Under Hegseth

Now, her apparent role in shaping the narrative about his public image may be in overdrive after multiple Pentagon staffers opted to blow the whistle about the disarray and discontentment engulfing the department under Hegseth’s reign.

‘People should know what a mess it is,’ one Army officer told the Daily Mail. ‘Things have gone from bad to worse. It’s unbelievably chaotic and demoralizing.’

Behind the scenes, insiders say the mockery of Hegseth is widespread.

He is reportedly called ‘Whiskey Pete’ and ‘Colonel Vodka’ behind his back, both nods to reported drinking concerns, which he has denied.

Another nickname making the rounds is ‘No Tab Pete’ – a jab at his lack of elite combat insignia compared to the decorated leaders he has fired since taking charge.

The Pentagon’s spokesman, for his part, routinely brands the unflattering coverage of Hegseth – including this article – as ‘fake news.’

The father of four children killed in a murder-suicide involving their mother and grandmother has described the toxicology findings as “sickening.”

Brady Harmon lost his children — Harper, 13; Hudson, 11; and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn Harmon — on June 10. Investigators say his former wife, Sarah Myers, and her mother, Amy Steadman, carried out the deadly attack in Mechanicville, New York.

According to investigators, Myers, 44, and Steadman, 64, gave the children drugs and repeatedly stabbed Gavin before both women died by suicide.

The toxicology report found that diphenhydramine, an over-the-counter medication, “was present at fatal or lethal levels in all six individuals,” the Mechanicville Police Department said.

Police also reported that mitragynine — the primary compound in kratom — and Benadryl were detected in four of the six victims.

Harmon posted the report on Facebook, sharing his grief and anger after learning more about how his children died.

“The pain is still as raw as if it happened yesterday. Reading today’s official toxicology findings makes it even more sickening to understand what was done to them,” he wrote.

The devastated father continued: “I will never understand how two people who claimed to love and care about these children could deliberately cause them such unimaginable harm.”

“Harper, Hudson, Gavin, and Gracelynn were innocent. They deserved to feel safe. They deserved to grow up, chase their dreams, celebrate birthdays, reach milestones, and live the lives that were stolen from them.”

Harmon’s comments came as he seeks $400 million from New York authorities, claiming that a prolonged pattern of abuse involving his children was permitted to continue despite repeated warning signs.

He has filed a legal notice stating his intention to sue the City of Mechanicville, Ballston Spa Central School District, Mechanicville City School District, Saratoga County, and the Mechanicville Housing Authority. The notice alleges that the organizations failed to protect his children, NEWS10 reported.

The 17-page filing claims the deaths followed years of disturbing conduct that law enforcement should have recognized or stopped.

It also alleges that Myers and Steadman suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a form of abuse in which a caregiver fabricates, exaggerates, or deliberately causes illness in someone under their care.

Harmon alleges that the two women regularly gave the children substances including melatonin, Benadryl, and kratom “to control them and to make them sick,” according to the notice.

One of the most serious incidents allegedly occurred in May 2024, when all four children became ill while they were attending the Mechanicville City School District, the filing says.

Three children were taken to Albany Medical Center with symptoms consistent with an opiate overdose. Gracelynn was reportedly in such serious condition that she needed Narcan, a medication used to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.

According to the filing, Sarah, the children’s mother, attributed the episode to Benadryl.

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The hospital contacted Child Protective Services, but Brady’s attorneys argue the incident should have led to the children being removed from their mother’s care or, at minimum, ‘triggered immediate criminal and abuse investigations.’ 

The filing claims that Gavin suffered particularly severe abuse and was ‘falsely diagnosed with several mental illnesses and put on a psychotropic medication that reduced his ability to fight back.’

Brady also alleges that as his children became chronically absent from school – supposedly because Myers was homeschooling them – agencies withheld information concerning their education, medical treatment and alleged abuse from him ‘in violation of his parental rights and the law.’ 

He had not seen his children in person since 2019 amid a bitter custody battle, but that was about to change with Brady reaching an agreement for the children to spend the summer with him in Utah from July through September.

‘I sent their flight information. I planned activities based on their interests,’ he wrote to his ex-wife as he prepared for their arrival.

‘I requested their medical records, medications, allergies, doctors’ information, and other documents that were required under the parenting plan. I believed I was preparing to welcome my children home.’

He spoke to them on June 7 and was looking forward to their reunion. Then, on June 10, Sarah sent him a message saying the children were sick.

‘The kids have gotten a little stomach bug throwing up is it okay to switch your online visit to tomorrow night at 4 pm your time please?’ she wrote.

When he tried the following day again, his video call went unanswered.

Investigators now believe the children were already dead. The six of them were found deceased on June 23 after a neighbor noticed an unusual number of flies and a smell coming from the Mechanicville apartment and called police.

Authorities also revealed that Sarah and Amy planned how they would kill the children in text messages that same day. 

The Mechanicville Housing Authority, which oversaw the family’s apartment complex, is among those named in the notice, while Harmon’s lawyer Nicholas Liakas said the children remained in Myers’ care despite ‘multiple complaints and investigations’ involving CPS. 

‘Child Protective Services failed these children,’ Liakas told the New York Post.

‘When the warning signs are there, people need to step up. We can’t wait until a tragedy occurs to say what should have been done before these children are abused.’

Liakas said the proposed lawsuit is not solely about obtaining compensation for a grieving father, but about forcing changes designed to prevent another family from suffering a similar catastrophe.

‘What we’re doing is we’re seeking justice for this family, but we’re also trying to implement institutional change here,’ he said.

The Daily Mail contacted the City of Mechanicville, Ballston Spa Central School District, Mechanicville City School District, Saratoga County, and the Mechanicville Housing Authority for comment.