Bloomberg dismisses ‘political games’ around al Qaeda suspect’s trial

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) dismissed lawmakers’ criticisms over trying a former al Qaeda spokesman in New York City as partisan politics and said he’s confident that the trial won’t present a security risk.

“I suspect a lot of the controversy will be partisan controversy, part of the political games that are played in Washington,” Bloomberg told CBS.

Bloomberg did not second-guess the Obama administration’s decision to try former al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in federal court rather than taking him to Guantanamo Bay and trying him before a military tribunal.

The decision has drawn attacks from a number of Republicans.

“It's up to the federal government what they want to do. And we'll make sure everybody is safe in New York,” he said in an interview on “Face the Nation” that will air Sunday.

Bloomberg noted that his police department has major resources that can be marshaled, if needed, to assist federal officials.

“Keep in mind, a prisoner of the federal government will be in a federal detention center, will go to a federal courtroom through tunnels under the street, never seeing the light of day. So from a security point of view, there isn't that much extra much extra we want to do,” he said.

“Ray Kelly, our police commissioner, has an enormous number of resources at his command, and if the federal government asks for security help or if there are crowds outside the courthouse, we certainly know how to control that,” Bloomberg said.

The New York City police have 35,000 uniformed officers and 1,000 officers devoted to intelligence and counter-terrorism, he said.

The decision to bring Abu Ghaith, who is the late Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law, to New York has drawn criticism from Republicans who say it’s a security risk, and say detention at Guantanamo, where suspects have fewer rights than the civilian court system, is preferable.

“At Guantanamo, he could be held as a detainee and fulsomely and continuously interrogated without having to overcome the objections of his civilian lawyers,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday.

Bloomberg declined to weigh in on detainee policy.

“In terms of whether this guy should be tried in federal court or interrogated in Guantanamo, I'll leave that to the president. He doesn't need me weighing in. He's got a tough enough job as it is,” Bloomberg said.

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