Ashcroft ‘on Notice’ for Comments on Trial

A federal judge said Friday he was “distressed” by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s public praise of a key government witness at the trial of four men accused of acting as a “sleeper” terrorist cell.

Defense attorneys criticized the attorney general’s remarks and U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen said he will take up the issue after the trial, whose participants are under a gag order.

The judge polled the jurors, who said they did not know that any government official had made remarks about the case.

At a news conference Thursday in Washington, Ashcroft called witness Youssef Hmimssa’s cooperation “a critical tool” in efforts to combat terrorism. He said it should put potential terrorists on notice that there are informants among them.

Defense lawyers argued that the remarks were at least the second time Ashcroft had violated Rosen’s gag order. The judge said he would decide after the trial whether to consider a defense request to have Ashcroft explain his actions.

“I was distressed to see the attorney general commenting in the middle of a trial about the credibility of a witness who had just gotten off the stand,” Rosen said. Later, Rosen added, “The attorney general has specifically been put on notice,” about the scope of the gag order.

Hmimssa, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges in three states, says the men on trial are Islamic extremists who wanted to help support attacks in the U.S. and abroad and ship arms to the Middle East. He alleges they tried to recruit him.

Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan and Farouk Ali-Haimoud are charged with conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists. The trial is the first in the United States for an alleged terrorist cell detected following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The defense says Hmimssa is a liar trying to save himself from harsher punishment. Hmimssa, who arrived illegally in the U.S. in 1994, has admitted to document fraud, using aliases and leading a credit card scam garnering more than $180,000.