Atty Gen Holder says Obama administration ‘weeks away’ from deciding where to hold 9/11 trial

Holder: ‘Weeks away’ from decision on 9/11 trial

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder says a decision will be made in a matter of weeks on where to try the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Holder testified Tuesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee. He says the trial decision will come in weeks, not months.

The decision has been up in the air since January when the Obama administration backtracked on Holder’s plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in federal court in New York City.

Privately, White House aides expect to move the trial into a military commission, in response to critics who say a civilian trial would be too great a security risk and would give terror suspects too great a public platform.