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Holder to face tough questions in Senate; could Congress overturn KSM trial decision?
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
11/17/09 10:58 AM EST
Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow, and he's expected to face a lot of questions about his decision to grant 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed full American constitutional rights and try him in federal court in New York. In addition, Holder will be asked about the FBI's failure to act when it discovered communications between a radical Islamic cleric and Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man who would later be accused of killing 13 and wounding 30 at Ft. Hood, Texas.
"There will be a whole host of questions about how the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed decision was made, the basis for the decision, and the multitude of legal questions that such a prosecution would raise," says a well-informed GOP source on the committee. "You'll see a lot of that."
There will be just as many questions about Ft. Hood and why "the FBI didn't do anything about the conversations with the imam," says the source. "That's leading a lot of people to conclude that this administration doesn't believe we're at war, that we're backsliding away from the changes that were made in the national security apparatus and law enforcement after 9/11."
The hearing will come just two days after the Senate Armed Services Committee, acting at the request of the White House, cancelled a behind-closed-doors briefing on the Ft. Hood killings. Judiciary Committee sources say the Holder hearing is still on and that no questions are off-limits, but that it's likely that Holder will say he's not able to get into certain specifics about Ft. Hood and the 9/11 trial.
On the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed issue, lawmakers say that it is not an absolutely done deal that the trial will take place in the United States as Holder plans. "By statute, the administration is required to give Congress 45 days' notice before they move anyone out of Guantanamo Bay to the U.S.," says the well-connected aide. "We're in that 45-day period now."
What does that mean? On November 5, the Senate voted to stop an amendment by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham which would have barred funding for any prosecution of 9/11 terrorists on U.S. soil. The vote was 54-45. Those voting in favor of the Graham amendment included all Republicans and Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell, Joseph Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, and James Webb.
Although the amendment was defeated, there is no reason it could not be revived if some senators change their views on the wisdom of holding the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial in American civilian courts. "There is always a chance that Congress, after having an opportunity to question the attorney general in an open oversight hearing, may decide to revisit the vote on Graham," says the committee source. Tomorrow's Holder hearing could be the start of that process.
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