the situation room. we will assess what has just happened. that s coming up later today. thanks very much for watching. newsroom starts right now. wolf, thank you. crazy busy news days. let s get right to it. for almost two years, the u.s. has been trying to bring to justice the terrorist behind the raid on the consulate in benghazi, libya. even though cnn could locate one of the suspects, the u.s. apparently could not. in fact, we talked to him in public inside a cafe. finally today, that suspect is in u.s. custody. authorities say they arrested ahmed abu khattalah over the weekend and are now holding him in a location outside of libya. the fbi and military carried out that raid. i should also tell you we are waiting for more details as we await this pentagon daily briefing, but we will take it live for you any minute.
in chief is to keep the american people safe. that was the president minutes ago speaking at a stop in pennsylvania. here we go. let s go to the pentagon. take a listen. has been charged for his role on the attacks in the u.s. facilities in benghazi, libya on september 11th, 2012. no u.s. personnel or civilians were injured in this operation which was carried out in close coordination with law enforcement personnel. the united states has taken khattalah to a secure location outside libya. he will be brought to the united states to stand trial in a court of law. secretary hagel is proud of everyone who meticulously planned and executed this operation. they took great personal risk to fulfill our pledge that the united states will do whatever it takes to ensure justice comes
khattalah is charged in the attack that left four americans dead. our senior international correspondent, arwa damon, sat down with him in a cafe last year. he denied involvement in that attack in benghazi and claimed no official has ever asked him about the attack. [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] obviously, agreeing to
cnn. a top suspect in the deadly attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, multiple sources telling cnn the raid was just hours away when the decision was made to abort. let s bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she has been working the story. what are you learning? we all know there has been huge political pressure on the white house to go after those benghazi suspects. the ones that attacked the u.s. compound last year. killing four americans. including ambassador chris stephens. cnn learned from several horses that u.s. commandos missed a crucial opportunity earlier this month. they were in libya, delta force commandos, to grant an al qaeda operative, abu al libby when they were going to go after this guy. ahmed abu khattalah. they were going to switch to going after khattalah in benghazi. but the operation never
and heed the warnings. the president also defended the nsa s surveillance programs, insisting the sags not spying, just keeping track of phone numbers and e-mail addresses associated with terrorists. now to a big development into the investigation into last year s deadly attack on the u.s. diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. sources tell cnn, federal authorities have filed the first criminal charges in connection with that attack. and a prominent figure in libya son that list. arwa damon is tracking all the developments. she is live in cairo for us so we have charges, but have any arrests been made? reporter: no, at this point, not yet. in fact, one of the main individuals you re referring to ahmed abu khattalah he is effectively out in the open. we spoke to him just a few months ago when we were in benghazi, we asked him about these various allegations that have begun to surface back then