US News

Obama eyes 9/11 trial shift

Bending under enormous bipartisan pressure, the White House yesterday told US Attorney General Eric Holder to consider moving the trial of 9/11 monster Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other terror plotters from lower Manhattan, sources told The Post.

The Obama administration, responding to the chorus of discontent about the trial site, realized New York City was the wrong choice, one high-ranking law-enforcement source said.

“People were upset, the politicians were upset, the government’s upset — they realized it wasn’t a smart decision,” the source said.

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“So the White House told the Justice Department to do an analysis of any other possible venues.”

Two administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed Friday theat the Justice department is drawing up plans for possible alternate locations.

Topping the list, the source said, is upstate Otisville — home to a federal penitentiary where the terrorists, now at Guantanamo Bay, could be housed. Other cities being considered, the source said, include White Plains in Westchester County and New Haven, Conn.

The Department of Justice and the White House both denied any decision had been made to move the trial out of New York City, but an administration official acknowledged it was at least under consideration.

“Conversations have occurred about contingency plans in case current plans to hold the trial in New York are foreclosed upon,” the official said.

Part of the concern, the official said, is that Congress may decide to block funding for the trial if it is held in New York.

Rep. Peter King (R-LI) authored legislation yesterday aimed at doing just that.

The administration’s move came after Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said the trial should be moved because “the dynamic has changed” in the wake of the failed Christmas Day underwear bombing and in light of Mayor Bloomberg’s recent opposition to the plan.

“The administration should listen to the mayor and the mayor’s concerns and, candidly, make a change,” she told MSNBC.

Earlier, a group of elected officials who represent lower Manhattan, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and state Sen. Daniel Squadron, wrote to Holder, asking that he consider a different location for the trial because it would be “burdensome” on the area.

A group of six US senators, including Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), also wrote Holder, asking that he abandon the idea.

“You will be providing [the terrorists with] one of the most visible platforms in the world to exalt their past acts and to rally others in support of further terrorism,” their letter said.

Bloomberg, who had initially supported the plan to hold the trials in the federal courthouse at 500 Pearl St. so the terrorists would “face justice near the World Trade Center site,” phoned Holder yesterday to try to get him to change his mind.

“There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City,” Bloomberg said.

Officials have estimated that the trials would cost taxpayers about $200 million a year and would be a security nightmare.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) last night told reporters the mayor and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly “laid out very legitimate concerns,” leading him to call the White House “and argue that they explore alternatives.”

“It made sense,” he said.

And community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin, who supports a federal trial at a military installation, hailed the administration’s shift. “I’m extremely gratified,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Obama — fresh off his State of the Union Address — seemed to dig in on the issue.

Asked about Bloomberg’s push for the trial to be moved, White House spokesman Bill Burton said the president “agrees with the attorney general’s opinion” that the proceeding could be “litigated successfully and securely” in the United States, “just like others have, like [shoe bomber] Richard Reid.” With Jennifer Fermino