Inside the Moussaoui Trial: FBI Frustrations, 9/11 Secrets, and Al-Qaeda Hunts | Ep. 262 | Pt. 2

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Documentary, Politics, News

4.9 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dive into Part 2 of Episode 263 of the Mike Drop Podcast, hosted by Mike Ritland, where he sits down with retired FBI Special Agent Harry Samit. Known for his pivotal role in the pre-9/11 investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui—the so-called "20th hijacker"—Samit shares gripping insider details from his 20+ year career combating terrorism. In this episode, listeners will uncover the dramatic twists in Moussaoui's trial, sentencing, and life in supermax prison; frustrations with the justice system and bureaucratic hurdles; and riveting accounts of other high-stakes cases involving al-Qaeda operatives, anthrax threats, 9/11 connections, and Somali recruits to al-Shabab. Expect raw insights into the emotional toll of FBI work, the clash between investigators and prosecutors, and the ongoing fight against extremism—all delivered in an unfiltered conversation that highlights the human side of national security. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So like at that point, what can Musawi still be charged with and what was he charged with what ultimately has happened to him?
0:09.0	So what happened was he was charged with a bunch of offenses around conspiracy to allow the 9-11 attacks to happen.
0:19.0	Essentially the government, you know, the federal prosecutors were getting their orders
0:24.3	from the highest levels of government, you know, the president, vice president, were involved.
0:29.2	It makes sense, right?
0:31.0	You know, we have almost 3,000, you know, dead victims, many more living victims of the 9-11
0:36.4	attacks.
0:38.3	And so he is going to be charged with, he ends up being charged with crimes relating to 9-11
0:43.3	that carry the death penalty.
0:45.3	The government decides they're going to seek the death penalty.
0:49.3	Because there's so much classified material, there's so much evidence in this, the trial is a huge deal.
0:56.2	He gets transferred to Alexandria, Virginia, the Eastern District of Virginia is the venue.
1:02.1	Musawi for reasons that no one really knows decides to plead guilty.
1:07.3	He essentially decides to say, yep, I did it, he advertises his, you know, he essentially acknowledges the government's case.
1:14.5	So the trial that I ended up testifying at was not a guilty or innocent trial.
1:20.3	It was the, does he get the death penalty trial or not?
1:23.3	I assume his attorneys were trying to get life and not the death penalty.
1:26.2	Correct.
1:27.0	And so the way it works in the federal death penalty system, because I think it's important, is when a person, when the government seeks the death penalty, there's a trial, and it's convicted or not convicted.
1:38.6	In this case, he took that off the table by pleading guilty, so he was convicted.
1:42.2	He didn't try and negotiate to get the death penalty
1:44.9	lifted. So then the second trial is death penalty or not, and that's the trial that actually
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