Obama: Congress Made ‘Mistake’ Overriding 9/11 Bill Veto

Hours after Congress overrode his veto of the bill allowing 9/11 victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia, President Obama responded, telling CNN it was a “mistake” for them to do so. “I understand why it happened,” he told Jake Tapper during the network’s presidential town hall. “Obviously, all of us still carry the scars and trauma of 9/11... But what this legislation did was it said if a private citizen believes that having been victimized by terrorism that another country didn't do enough to stop one of its citizens, for example, in engaging in terrorism, then they can file a personal lawsuit, a private lawsuit in court.” He suggested that such lawsuits put Americans on the slippery slope to being held financially liable for anything that may go wrong while the U.S. is involved in relief efforts or private projects abroad. This particular veto override was the first one during Obama’s presidency.