Hazmi and Mihdhar in California, 2000

By February 4, Hazmi and Mihdhar had come to San Diego from Los Angeles

In June 2000, Mihdhar left California and returned to Yemen.

Bayoumi told them how pleasant San Diego was and offered to help them settle there.

We do not know whether the lunch encounter occurred by chance or design.

It is certainly possible that he has dissembled about some aspects of his story, perhaps to counter suspicion.

we have seen no credible evidence that he believed in violent extremism or knowingly aided extremist groups.

Fahad al Thumairy—an imam at the mosque and an accredited diplomat at the Saudi Arabian consulate from 1996 until 2003

The circumstantial evidence makes Thumairy a logical person to consider as a possible contact for Hazmi and Mihdhar.

after exploring the available leads, we have not found evidence that Thumairy provided assistance to the two operatives.

Bayoumi obliged by not only locating an apartment but also helping them fill out the lease application, co-signing the lease and, when the real estate agent refused to take cash for a deposit, helping them open a bank account (which they did with a $9,900 deposit)

Neither then nor later did Bayoumi give money to either Hazmi or Mihdhar, who had received money from KSM.

Nawaf al Hazmi, now identified for the first time with his full name, had departed on January 15 on a United Airlines flight to Los Angeles.

As for Khalid al Mihdhar, there was no report of his departure even though he had accompanied Hazmi on the United flight to Los Angeles.

More thorough investigation, however, has determined that Bayoumi did not pay rent or provide any funding to the hijackers.