Gibbs won’t commit to civilian trial for KSM
By Harry Siegel
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined several opportunities on Sunday to say whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be tried in a federal or military court.
“He will be brought to justice, and he will likely be executed for the heinous crimes he has committed,” Gibbs said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That you can be sure of.”
But he dodged repeated questions by CNN host John King about whether the administration might shift the venue back from federal court in New York to a military court, finally saying that “The attorney general believes the best place to try him is in an American courtroom,” but not committing to that option.
Administration sources backed away from their plans for a civilian trial in lower Manhattan after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg withdrew his support for the trial last week, and a host of New York Democrats then followed suit.
“We are talking with the authorities in New York,” Gibbs said. “We understand their logistical concerns. We have been discussing that with them.”
Congress to Reject Funding for Trial?
Congress would reject any funding requests for a trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a federal courthouse, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday.
“We need to deny these people a show trial,” McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We need to proceed to interrogate them.”
He said support for trying Mohammed in the federal courts is “collapsing,” and he predicted both Republicans and Democrats would withhold funds from the administration.
“Yeah, absolutely, and I think that will be done on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell said. “Soon the administration will figure out whatever domestic support they had for this is totally collapsing.”
“I mean, Larry King would have a more thorough interrogation of one of his [guests] than the Christmas bomber had by the Justice Department,” McConnell said, refering to the AP report that “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was interrogated for just 50 minutes before being read his Miranda rights.
“This is really dangerous nonsense. We have a way to do it, John: Interrogate them, detain them, and try them in military commissions offshore at Guantanamo from which no one has ever escaped.”
