Benghazi 2012 Suspect Zubayr al-Bakoush Brought to the U.S. as Trump-Era FBI Moves to Prosecute Attack That Killed Four Americans
Attorney General Pam Bondi says the suspect arrived around three a.m. near Washington and will face federal charges including murder and arson tied to the Libya assault.
A suspect accused of playing a key role in the two thousand twelve Benghazi attack in Libya has been taken into U.S. custody and flown to the United States, in a move the Trump administration is presenting as a renewed push to close one of the most painful chapters in modern U.S. diplomatic security.
U.S. officials identified the suspect as Zubayr al-Bakoush and said he arrived in the early hours of Friday morning at an airfield near Washington, with Attorney General Pam Bondi appearing alongside Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to announce the transfer and prosecution plans.
The attack on September eleventh, two thousand twelve, targeted U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
The incident has remained a defining trauma for the families of those killed and a lasting test of how the United States pursues accountability across borders when suspects are outside normal extradition channels.
Bondi said the suspect would face federal charges that include murder and arson, with prosecutors also pointing to terrorism-related counts in the case.
Officials described the transfer as a foreign handover into U.S. custody, while withholding operational details about how and where the suspect was detained.
The Benghazi investigation has spanned multiple administrations and years of legal work, with previous U.S. prosecutions already resulting in convictions for other defendants connected to the assault.
Friday’s arrest was described by U.S. authorities as the first Benghazi-related capture and transfer announced under President Donald Trump’s current administration, and it signals that the case is still active legally, operationally, and politically.