Key participant in 2012 Benghazi attack has been brought to U.S. to face charges, DOJ says

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 investigations of 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.