Attorney General Eric Holder has made an unannounced visit to a Manhattan courthouse to inspect security for the upcoming trial of professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged co-conspirators.
Holder inspected the federal jail and nearby courthouse Wednesday where Mohammed and the four others are due to stand trial on charges they plotted the nation's worst terrorist attack.
The five suspects have been held for years at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Holder announced last month they would be tried as civilians blocks from the World Trade Center site.
A Holder spokesman said the attorney general also met with top city officials and law enforcement.
An FBI spokesman said Attorney General Holder met with Joseph Demarest, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in New York, the U.S. Attorneys from New York and Virginia, Commissioner Ray Kelly of the NYPD, Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals and others to discuss coordination, cooperation and security for the potential upcoming trials of the 9/11 terrorists.”
A trial date has not yet been set but yesterday, NBCNewYork was first to report that a federal grand jury in New York is now hearing evidence and testimony in the 9-11 terror case.
It is unclear when the suspects will be sent to New York. The Justice Department has to notify Congress 45 days in advance before moving the suspects to U.S. soil. Congressional sources said notification has not yet happened so the 45 day clock has not yet started ticking.
