A key participant in the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed four Americans has been taken into custody and is facing charges in the U.S., Justice Department officials said Friday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Zubayr al-Bakoush landed at Joint Base Andrews at 3 a.m. on Friday and would be tried in federal court in the District of Columbia. Officials didn’t say how long he’d been in custody, or where he had been apprehended.
“Al-Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil,” Bondi said.
An eight-count indictment charged al-Bakoush with crimes including the murders of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith, attempted murder of State Department Special Agent Scott Wicklund, and arson, said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
It was unclear if al-Bakoush had an attorney representing him.
The 2012 attack on the U.S. compound became an instantly divisive political issue. Republicans criticized the response by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and questioned the administration’s narrative about who was responsible, and the security on the compound.
House Republicans launched six investigationsof the Obama administration’s handling of the episode.
The criminal case against al-Bakoush was first brought during the Obama administration in 2015 and was sealed for more than a decade. It was announced Friday by Bondi, Pirro and FBI Director Kash Patel, who all praised the work of law enforcement agents.
“President Trump is making sure that American justice is coming for those individuals responsible for the deaths of those four Americans,” Pirro said.
The United States has not had an embassy in Libya since 2014 due to a chaotic civil war and in the wake of the deadly 2012 attack.
U.S. officials handling diplomacy with Libya have operated from the American embassy in neighboring Tunisia, and Americans are encouraged to avoid travel to Libya.
In March 2024, the Biden administration told Congress it planned to reopen an embassy in Libya in 2025 and requested funding from lawmakers. But the Trump administration has not said what it plans to do in Libya.
By NBC News
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