The Benghazi suspect captured by the United States in Libya made an appearance in a Washington D.C. court and plead “not guilty” to charges that he lead the attack.
Watch below:
And here’s a first hand account of the court appearance by Fox News’ Catherine Herridge:
The session was less than fifteen minutes and moved with lightning speed.
I was sitting less than 25 feet from Ahmed Abu Khatallah. He is tall, in the range of six feet, and medium to heavy set.
He walked slowly as he approached the defense table wearing a black sweat top with a grey stripe at the side and matching baggy trousers.
His hair is black and matted with grey through out and a long beard. He appeared dazed at first as he looked around the courtroom as they placed translation head sets on him.
And then as the judge spoke, he became laser like in his focus, almost hanging on the judge’s every word.
He was not shackled but stood with his hands behind his back as if were handcuffed. In the front left row a handful of FBI agents looked on.
And a drawing of Khatallah from a court artist:
Santa Claus is a terrorist!?!? MT @Courtartist: #Benghazi suspect Abu Khattala as he appeared in DC courtroom pic.twitter.com/BDZtYOpQNR
— el ¡Soopèr! ن (@SooperMexican) June 28, 2014
As I’ve noted before, Khatallah has supported the idea that the attack grew out of a protest about the YouTube video mocking Muhammad. If we see headlines coming out that the scandal is over because he supports the official government version of events, we’ll know why he was picked up, and not the other dozen or so suspects charged with the attack.