Two disturbing videos that remained largely hidden for decades may soon take center stage in a long-running legal fight over the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Families of victims say the footage could help convince a court next month that Saudi Arabia was tied to the attacks — and that they have gathered enough evidence to keep their case alive.

On Oct. 7, federal appeals judges in lower Manhattan are set to hear oral arguments that, for the first time, will link the men seen in those videos to the Saudi government, its intelligence apparatus and the events of that devastating day.

At the center of both videos is Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national whose role has long drawn scrutiny. He helped arrange housing in California for two of the hijackers who later boarded American Airlines Flight 77, then left the United States for the United Kingdom roughly a year before the attacks.

Al-Bayoumi was detained and questioned by British authorities at the request of the United States, but he was never charged with a crime. He later returned to Saudi Arabia.

Roughly 10,000 relatives of 9/11 victims who are part of the lawsuit now hope to persuade a Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel that the evidence is substantial enough to allow their effort to hold the Saudi government accountable to move forward.

“These pieces of evidence demonstrate that Bayoumi had foreknowledge of what the hijackers’ role and intent was,” said Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, a group that successfully pushed legislation to allow Americans to sue foreign governments for damages.

“What these videos and what this evidence suggests and proves is that Bayoumi was in constant contact with higher and more senior Saudi government officials,” said Eagleson, whose father died in the South Tower on 9/11.

One video shows al-Bayoumi, who had murky government ties and a web of official contacts, and who according to a 2017 FBI memo was on the payroll of Saudi intelligence – filming the US Capitol and talking about a “plan.”

Plaintiffs say he made it at the behest of Al Qaeda.

Lawyers for the victims’ families say al-Bayoumi was “casing” the building – with 30 minutes of footage of the hour-long video revealing the iconic building’s entrances, showing its security procedures, and even its interior columns.

The 2004 9/11 Commission report said there was a high probability that the Capitol was the intended target of United Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, PA.

That report also found there was “no credible evidence” that al-Bayoumi aided extremists and called him an “unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement” with them – although its drafters say they didn’t have access to the “casing” video, lawyers argued in court

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Former FBI special agent Bassem Youssef provided expert testimony to the lawyers that al-Bayoumi’s Arabic language comments in the videos “bears the hallmarks of terror planning operations.” The timing of when he filmed it — beginning in June 1999 — coincides with when US intelligence says Osama bin Laden gave the order for the attack on the US using aircraft.

It was unsealed in court in 2024 despite being seized just 10 days after the 2001 attacks by British authorities and being handed over to US investigators. It still isn’t clear if it was kept under wraps on purpose or, as some family advocates suspect, to shield a powerful ally.

“They buried it,” claimed Terri Strada, national chair of 9/11 Families United.

“It’s a very key piece of evidence, because it’s been verified by CIA analysts that that was a casing video,” claimed Strada.

Another video shows the California “welcome party” al-Bayoumi threw for two 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.

That video shows al-Bayoumi hosting a Feb. 17, 2000 gathering for community members that signaled their “special status” – providing what attorneys for 10,000 9/11 family members called a “cocoon” of support.

The video of the party, shown inside the same San Diego apartment that the hijackers rented from an unsuspecting landlord after an introduction from al-Bayoumi, briefly shows hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar in the kitchen.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued in court it proves he was operating an “extremist cell” as an “agent” of Saudi Arabia under “deep cover.”

Bayoumi said at the welcome party, which included 29 men, that Hazmi and Mihdhar would “soon be traveling.”

Then there is the paper trail and string of connections between al-Bayoumi and Saudi authorities. The Saudi Government, an influential US ally and the world’s second largest oil producer, has long denied any role whatsoever in the planning of the 9/11 terror attacks that killed 2,977.

The Post contacted the Saudi embassy in Washington seeking additional comment about the case.

Al-Bayoumi’s notebook, seized along with the videos by UK authorities in Birmingham, England on Sept. 20, 2001, includes a tiny sketch of a plane next to mathematical calculations that an expert witness for plaintiffs says is a flight calculation for viewing an object on the horizon from the air.

The feds don’t even have the notebook with the plane sketch and calculations. Authorities gave it back to al-Bayoumi in 2002. The notebook “was not produced by Saudi Arabia or Bayoumi in this litigation,” according to a plaintiffs’ filing. They say the Kingdom “should make the original notepad available in its entirety for inspection.”

Barbara’s body was discovered in a secluded area of Flagler Estates, near the boundary between St. Johns County and Flagler County. Tolbert said she died from a single gunshot wound. Investigators have never found the firearm used in the killing or Barbara’s cell phone.

“The majority of the investigation is very circumstantial. It’s based on a lot of circumstantial evidence. There are some holes in the timeline that we would like to fill in. We still very much believe that Lilly has information about this investigation,” Tolbert said.

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Tolbert told First Coast News that Lilly was identified early on as a person of interest. Investigators later learned that Lilly and Barbara had argued about money in the days leading up to Barbara’s disappearance.

Tolbert said investigators believe the case may have stemmed from a sudden confrontation rather than a premeditated act. “Our investigative theory is that something happened, some type of disagreement, argument, not necessarily something planned, but something in the heat of the moment. And then there was a period of panic, ‘what do I do now?’ And there’s evidence on Barbara’s vehicle, in addition to the latent blood, that suggests that Barbara’s vehicle was used to move her body,” he explained.

Natalie Portman has reportedly become a mother for the third time.

The 45-year-old Academy Award-winning actress has welcomed her first child with her French partner, Tanguy Destable, 46, a musician and music producer.

Portman and Destable’s baby was born in Paris last month, a source told People on Saturday.

Daily Mail has contacted Portman’s representatives for comment but has not yet received a response.

Portman is already a parent to two children from her previous marriage to director and choreographer Benjamin Millepied: son Aleph, 15, and daughter Amalia, nine. The former couple separated in 2023 before finalizing their divorce in 2024.

Back in April, the star announced that she was pregnant with her third child.

‘Tanguy and I are very excited,’ she told Harper’s Bazaar at the time. ‘I’m just very grateful. I know it’s such a privilege and a miracle.’

Portman is the child of a fertility doctor. ‘I grew up hearing about how hard it is to get pregnant,’ she noted.

‘I have so many people I love who’ve had such a hard time with it that I want to be respectful around that as well. It’s such a beautiful, joyous thing, and it’s also not an easy thing.’ 

The actress added, ‘And so I know how lucky it is. I’m very aware, and I’m very grateful. I have deep appreciation and gratitude.’

Portman was first linked to Destable in March last year. 

Destable is a musician also known as DEPR who creates melodic dance and techno tracks.

Notoriously private, the last time Portman was seen at a red carpet event was in January, as she posed alongside Jenna Ortega and Charli xcx at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. 

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The movie star has previously praised the privacy that comes with living in Paris. 

‘There is a gratitude that when you’re young, you don’t necessarily grasp,’ she told Harper’s Bazaar. 

‘And there’s a calm and knowing myself: who I want to spend time with, what kind of energy I want around me that makes the experience so beautiful every day. And knowing it’s probably the last time, I cherish every moment.’

She also said she feels good. ‘I have more energy than I thought I might,’ she said.

The Hollywood star added she is swimming and doing gyrotonics to ‘keep strong.’

And she is taking time out to be with her two children, Aleph and Amalia, ‘which is always the best,’ she said.

Portman does not allow her children to be in the public eye.

She told Interview magazine: ‘I’m not a particularly private person in real life – I’ll tell you anything – but in public, it was so clear early on that if you tell people how private you are, your privacy gets respected a lot more.’

The Professional actress added: ‘I set up a little bit of a barrier to be like, “I’m not going to do photo shoots with my kids.”‘

She also said: ‘My kids are always a source of excitement, because you just see them develop into the individuals they are,’ she told Ortega for the magazine. ‘Also, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my friends, with their kids and my kids; that’s pretty fun.’

Ground Zero hero Thomas Del Pino has died after a devastating fight with 9/11-related brain cancer — passing away just three days after he paid tribute last year to the brothers he lost.

The 66-year-old retired firefighter was one of more than 57,044 first responders diagnosed with cancer linked to Sept. 11, and among 5,892 people exposed to the toxic dust from the World Trade Center terror attacks who later died from the disease.

Del Pino had spent 18 years with the FDNY and was serving as the chauffeur for Ladder Co. 85 on Staten Island when hijacked planes hit the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.  

“He was extremely grateful that he got to survive that day,” his son, NYPD Detective Daniel Del Pino, 38, told The Post ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks. “His big thing was he never wanted anyone to forget about 9/11.”

His rig was among the first dispatched to the burning World Trade Center because it carried the tallest ladder available — a 95-foot ladder that, even at full reach, stood no chance against flames raging roughly 1,500 feet above the ground.

“They were pulling up when the second tower came down,” the son said. “Him and another guy ended up diving under a firetruck.” 

Del Pino remained on the pile for days looking for survivors and remains.

The FDNY lost 343 members that day.

“That was something that really haunted him — the survivor’s guilt,” the son said. 

That was one of the reasons his dad made himself “the liaison” to another family who lost their firefighter father in the attacks.

“My dad had to be the one to tell the kids that their dad wasn’t coming home,” Del Pino recalled. “His remains were never found. My dad carried that with him.”

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Del Pino had thought about following in his father’s footsteps since he was a little kid, but he had blue blood in him as well, he said. His dad’s father was an NYPD officer for 22 years.

His dad suggested he take all the city’s civil services tests and the NYPD called in 2010.

“These guys were all heroes,” he said. “When everyone else was running away, cops and firemen were running into danger.”

His dad was proud he followed in his grandfather’s footsteps.

“He bought a (police) scanner,” Del Pino recalled. “When I was assigned to the 77th precinct (in Crown Heights, Brooklyn), he would listen to the radio to see if I was going on any calls.”

The father was over the moon again when his son was promoted to detective last year. Unfortunately, the son said, it was the same year his dad received his cancer diagnosis.

The elder Del Pino had a biopsy on July 1, 2025, and was diagnosed with diffuse midbrain glioblastoma – a rare aggressive malignant brain tumor more commonly detected in children.

He received radiation for five days a week for six weeks, but his liver began failing about a month later as a result, the son said.

“His rally was on Sept. 11,” his son said, recalling that his dad put on his uniform and attended two Sept. 11 memorials near his home in Millford, Pa., in a wheelchair. “He felt like he owed it to the guys who died to pay tribute to them one more time.”

He slipped into a coma two days later and died on Sept. 14.

“He knew it was coming,” his son said. “It wasn’t if it was going to get him, but when.”

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, are traveling to Moscow and Kyiv this weekend as part of a renewed push to bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We have an idea for peace,” Trump told reporters Friday, saying he had dispatched Witkoff and Kushner because they are “two great negotiators.” He added, “They’ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the planned visits in a post on X.

“Today, it has been clearly established that U.S. envoys will be in Ukraine and Russia in the coming days. We have the details from the U.S. President’s team. We discussed today that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Moscow and then Kyiv on Sunday. We are preparing for the visit,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The pair will visit Russia first on Saturday and, according to Russian state-affiliated media outlet Tass, have already landed in Moscow. 

Photos showed Kushner and Witkoff greeted by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev shortly after landing in Moscow.

Kushner and Witkoff are expected to later travel to Kyiv on Sunday, Zelenskyy confirmed. Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine will work to keep Russian airspace safe during the Americans’ visit.

“Just as we did during previous diplomatic visits by the American side, we will ensure the normal functioning of Russian airspace so that the negotiators can arrive safely. We are looking out for them, not for Russia. There will be no air strikes from our side, and Russia must do the same, ensuring there are no air strikes from its side for the time needed to hold these talks and handle the logistical matters related to this American visit,” he wrote on X.

“Our goal is to make the visit and the talks with the U.S. side as constructive and substantive as possible. We need to look for real options for how to move this war toward an end. We will see what proposals Steve and Jared bring and what they are told in Moscow in response,” the Ukrainian president concluded.

Zelenskyy, in a subsequent Saturday morning post on X, said he had already communicated with Witkoff and Kushner ahead of their planned Sunday meeting.

“I have just spoken with the U.S. President’s envoys. They have already begun working with the Russian side today. From the moment of this conversation, we are ready to observe a ceasefire in airstrikes against the cities involved in the negotiation process. From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv,” he wrote.

“Today, I also received reports from Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatyi on the situation at the front, the dynamics of threats in Ukraine’s airspace, our steps, and active defensive operations. I am grateful to every one of our warriors for effectively defending Ukraine’s positions,” Zelenskyy’s post continued. 

“On the diplomatic track, our actions must be, and will be, just as strong and effective – one hundred percent. The plan for tomorrow’s diplomatic engagements in Kyiv, involving the U.S. team, has been approved. We are waiting for Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and are ready for a substantive conversation. Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine!” Zelenskyy concluded. 

Zelenskyy’s Friday message came the same day that a Russian drone strike targeted the Security Service of Ukraine’s headquarters in Ukraine, Zelenskyy wrote in a public message on the app Telegram.

Zelenskyy alleged the strike directly targeted the head of the Security Service’s office.

He also wrote that he was directing the head, Oleksandr Poklad, to prepare a retaliatory strike. “I gave Poklad the task of adequately, noticeably and, if possible, mirroring the Russians’ response to this attack, when everything is prepared. Our military will support this response. Glory to Ukraine!” he wrote.

At least nine people were injured in the explosion, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko also wrote on Telegram.

The visit also comes just one day after German officials formally accused Russia of attempting an explosive drone attack on a major airport in Germany.

“The attack on the aircraft in Leipzig was concrete; it could have triggered a catastrophe had it succeeded. The attacker was, at most, covert, but even here there is now certainty: The German government has named Russia as the mastermind. Patterns of attack, police investigations, and intelligence findings prove Russian responsibility for the drone attack,” Stefan Kornelius, a spokesperson for the German federal government, wrote Friday.

News Media contacted the White House and the foreign ministries for Russia, Ukraine and Germany for further comment.