WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Obama administration has not ruled out holding a trial in New York City for the suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and he said the U.S. still hopes to capture and interrogate al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder came under fire from Republicans on the panel over the administration’s handling of terrorism cases, including plans to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and try terrorist suspects in U.S. civilian courts.
Holder told the committee that, despite widespread objections, “New York is not off the table” as a venue for the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the avowed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and four alleged co-conspirators.
In response to the remark, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, called on President Barack Obama to definitively exclude New York City as a potential site for the trial and to remove Holder from the decision-making process in selecting a venue.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said, “Pretending that terrorists can safely be treated as common criminals will not make it so.”
Holder announced in November that the government planned to try the five in federal court near the site of the World Trade Center towers that were destroyed in the 2001 attacks.
But the administration started to reconsider in the face of mounting public criticism, objections from Republicans and misgivings by key officials, including New York Mayor Michael Bloom berg, an independent, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
The White House now is considering a plan to let a military commission try the Sept. 11 suspects, reverting to a solution first advanced by the Bush administration.
