Alleged 9/11 mastermind’s long-awaited trial scheduled for 2028
These undated Federal Bureau of Investigation handout photos of al Qaeda commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were marked with the word “Located” after Mohammed’s arrest March 1, 2003, in Pakistan. (FBI/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The alleged self-proclaimed “mastermind” of the 9/11 attacks will stand trial in June 2028, a military judge ruled Wednesday, nearly 25 years after the attacks.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in 2003 and has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006.
“Trial on the merits shall begin on Monday, 5 June 2028,” Lt. Col. Michael Schrama decided.
Prosecutors sought a trial in 2027 but the judge said that was too soon.
The trial date comes after a yearslong legal saga that includes a controversial plea agreement that was later revoked.
In July 2024, Mohammed and two other 9/11 defendants held at Guantanamo Bay reached a plea agreement with military prosecutors under which they would plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of 2,976 people, in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table.
Under the deal, Mohammed would have served a life sentence at Guantanamo.
The agreement drew criticism from some 9/11 families and just a few days later then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the deal.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote.
After attorneys for the defendants objected, the Biden administration later took the matter to federal court in an attempt to continue to block the plea deal.
Last July, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled 2-1 that Austin had acted within his authority to revoke the deal.
The prosecution of Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 plotters detained at Guantanamo has been delayed by more than a decade over concerns about the admissibility of evidence gathered through torture when they were previously detained at the CIA’s “black sites.”
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, two hijacked passenger jets flew into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, marking the start of a series of coordinated attacks that day against the United States by the Afghanistan-based terrorist group al-Qaeda. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day and thousands more were injured.
Enhanced surveillance video released by Cornell University, May 3, 2026, shows university President Michael Kotlikoff backing out of an on-campus parking space after a group confronted him about free speech. (Cornell University)
(NEW YORK) — Cornell University’s president claimed he was the victim of “harassment and intimidation” following a parking lot confrontation with a group of people who said he tried to back his car into them.
The incident unfolded on Thursday, April 30, after Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff introduced an Israel-Palestinian debate series that was hosted by the Cornell Political Union and co-sponsored by the Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel, and Students for Justice in Palestine.
Kotlikoff said the behavior he experienced while allegedly being followed to his car in an on-campus lot by six or seven people, some of them students, “is harassment and intimidation, with the direct motive of silencing speech.”
“It has no place in an academic community, no place in a democracy, and can have no place at Cornell,” Kolikoff said in his statement released to the Ithaca, New York, university’s community on Friday.
Following the debate, videos posted online showed several people following Kolikoff to his car while questioning him about freedom of speech. The videos showed Kolikoff’s black Cadillac backing up out of a parking space as students appeared to be standing behind his vehicle.
One person, according to a video, complained that Kotikoff’s car bumped into him and ran over his foot before the school president drove off.
Aiden Vallecillo, a member of Students for a Democratic Cornell, told ABC affiliate station WSYR in Syracuse that he and other students followed Kolikoff from the debate to his car, peacefully questioning him.
Vallecillo claimed that Kotikoff escalated the situation when he got behind the wheel of his vehicle.
“As we were still trying to talk to him, he just immediately started reversing into us,” alleged Vallecillo, who claimed that Kotikoff’s car backed over his foot.
Sophia Arnold, president of the Students for a Democratic Cornell, said she witnessed the incident and expressed dismay over Kotikoff’s alleged behavior.
“I don’t even have the words for it. I was pretty shocked and offended,” Arnold told WSYR. “A random pedestrian pulling out of a supermarket parking lot would probably have shown more care.”
On Sunday, the university released enhanced surveillance video of the incident, which the school said occurred in a parking lot near Day Hall. The footage showed a group of people standing behind Kotikoff’s car as it backed out of a parking space, stopping when it appeared to bump a person filming with his cellphone, and then continued to back up and drive off.
In an earlier statement, Kyle Kimball, vice president for University Relations, said the security footage “shows students following President Kotlikoff to his car and surrounding the car to prevent him from leaving after the Cornell Political Union event.”
It was unclear on Sunday if the incident was reported to the campus police or was being formally investigated. In response to a request for comment on Sunday, a university spokesperson directed ABC News to the statement Kolitkoff released to the Cornell community on Friday.
In that statement, Kolitkoff, who was appointed as the school’s president in March 2025, said he was “accosted by a group of several individuals in the hall, among them students and non-students” as he left the event.
“These individuals are known to Cornell for their past conduct, including a long history of ongoing verbal and online abuse toward numerous members of Cornell’s administration and staff, as well as disruptive protest resulting, in the case of two individuals, in bans from campus,” Kolitkoff said.
He alleged that they followed him across campus from the event space “while loudly shouting questions” and using their phones to record the incident.
“After answering a few questions, I let them know that I was not planning to engage further, and asked them to stop recording,” Kolitkoff said.
Kolitkoff claimed the students continued to follow him, and said at least one told him, “No, we are not going to stop.”
He said when he got to his car, the group surrounded his vehicle, “banging on the windows” and blocking him from leaving.
“I waited until I saw space behind the car and then, using my car’s rear pedestrian alert and automatic braking system, was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot,” Kolitkoff said.
A wooden judge’s gavel and sounding block on a desk with a blurred courtroom in the background. (imaginima/Getty)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Army special forces soldier who was indicted last week on charges of using classified information about the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to make more than $400,000 on Polymarket is set to appear in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday.
Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke is scheduled to be arraigned following his release last week on a $250,000 bond.
In what is believed to be the first case of insider trading on a prediction market, prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke used classified information from his work in the planning and execution of the Maduro capture to place 13 bets on the outcome of the operation.
Prosecutors allege that Van Dyke placed bets on Dec. 27 through the evening of Jan. 2 — hours before soldiers entered Venezuelan airspace for the pre-dawn operation. After President Donald Trump made the operation public later that day, Van Dyke allegedly profited $409,881 from his $33,034 in bets.
“The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him by the United States Government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a statement last week. “That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law.”
The indictment also alleges that Van Dyke attempted to hide the evidence of the illegal trades by attempting to delete his Polymarket account and changing the email address associated with his cryptocurrency exchange account.
Following his arrest on Thursday, Van Dyke briefly appeared in a North Carolina courtroom on Friday. After acknowledging that he understood the charges and potential penalties, he signed a bond and agreed to surrender his passport, limit travel to parts of New York and North Carolina, and no longer possess a firearm unless it is part of his active military service.
His case is being overseen in New York by U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is also presiding over the high-profile federal case against alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.
Amid mounting criticism of prediction markets for allegedly enabling insider trading, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said his company is “constantly” monitoring for suspicious activity and referring cases to authorities. Coplan argued that the public nature of prediction markets makes it easier to crack down on insider trading.
“The transparency afforded by onchain markets makes global compliance more effective than ever. Every trade is public, permanent, and auditable. Bad actors leave a trail,” he said.
Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) conducts routine operations in the South China Sea July 23, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Andrew Novak)
(WASHINGTON) — A power failure aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer operating in the South China Sea last month left the ship’s crew without potable water, hot food, working toilets or air conditioning for four days.
The outage stemmed from an engineering failure aboard the USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Cmdr. Matthew Comer, a 7th Fleet spokesperson, said in a statement to ABC News.
The incident adds to concerns about the strain on the Navy as it juggles the Iran war and an expanding slate of global commitments.
The Benfold, a 30-year-old ship, was sailing with the George Washington carrier strike group on July 24 when an issue with the ship’s generators caused a complete loss of power aboard the destroyer, according to Comer.
The George Washington strike group is slated to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, where the carrier and its crew have faced an extended deployment supporting the Iran war.
“There were no injuries to the crew, who demonstrated resilience, grit, professionalism, and unwavering steadiness in their response,” Comer said of the power failure on the Benfold.
It’s unclear why the incident wasn’t disclosed by the sea service at the time.
ABC News reached out to the Navy for more information about the circumstances surrounding the power outage.
The Benfold was towed by contracted tugboats to Subic Bay in the Philippines, arriving July 28, where Navy maintenance specialists met the ship to begin repairs. Sailors were provided food and moved into contracted lodging ashore beginning the following day, Comer said.
Power was restored July 30, and repairs were completed on Aug. 7; the Benfold departed Subic Bay a day later, Comer added.
It’s unclear whether the Benfold returned to its home port of Japan or continued to sail with the Washington.
