Osama Bin Laden Told ABC News That Jews Have the First Word in the American Government

Claim: Osama bin Laden said Jews have the first word in the American government

Verdict: True.

• The post: The X post from @forbiddenmerch (September 3, 2026) asked @grok whether Osama bin Laden said, "we find that the jews have the first word in the American government." Grok's reply was yes, and it pointed to the May 1998 ABC News interview with John Miller.
• The interview: Miller sat down with bin Laden at a camp in southern Afghanistan on May 28, 1998. Bin Laden answered in Arabic. ABC later issued an English translation. That translation was filed in United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui as prosecution exhibit AQ00081T, labeled "ABC NEWS Interview of Usama Bin Laden, May 28, 1998."
• The wording: After Miller asked whether he had a message for the American people, the court translation has bin Laden saying the Clinton administration "represents the Israel inside America," then: "If we look at sensitive departments in the present government like the Defense Department or the State Department, or sensitive security departments like the CIA and others we find that Jews have the first word in the American government." That is the line in the X post. Grok's quoted sentence matches it, with only small wording differences ("Department of Defense" vs "Defense Department").

• Another English rendering: PBS Frontline published its own translation of the same videotaped interview. On that page the same answer is: "Take the sensitive ministries such as the Ministry of Exterior and the Ministry of Defense and the CIA, you will find that the Jews have the upper hand in them." "Ministry of Exterior" is the State Department. "First word" and "upper hand" are two English takes on the same Arabic answer, not two different interviews.
• In court: The same "first word" English appears in the March 6, 2006 afternoon transcript of the Moussaoui trial, where the interview was used as evidence.

In plain language:

Yes. The ABC News translation of the May 28, 1998 interview, the copy filed in the Moussaoui case, has him saying Jews have the first word in the American government. PBS printed the same answer as “upper hand.”