Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has said he masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is being transferred from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to New York to face trial.
A Justice Department official confirmed to TPMDC that Mohammed and four other detainees being held at Gitmo will stand trial in a civilian federal court.
Attorney General Eric Holder will make the announcement today, the official told TPMDC.
The news comes as Obama is traveling to Asia and as officials tell reporters that White House counsel Greg Craig is leaving.
From the Associated Press:
Mohammed and the four others — Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali — are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed 2,973 people on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mohammed admitted to interrogators that he was the mastermind of the attacks — he allegedly proposed the concept to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996, obtained funding for the attacks from bin Laden, oversaw the operation and trained the hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
