DOJ Announces Arrest of Alleged Benghazi Perpetrator

by Sharon Rondeau

(Feb. 6, 2026) — Shortly before 10:00 a.m. EST Friday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi opened a press conference announcing the apprehension of a suspect in the deaths of four Americans on September 11, 2012 at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

CIA Contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty; Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith and Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens were killed in two separate but closely-occurring attacks between September 11 and the early hours of September 12, reported to have been carried out by the terrorist group Ansar Al-Sharia.

The suspect has been identified as Zubayr Al-Bakoush and is described as “one of the key participants” in the attacks. The terrorists numbered as many as 20 and used grenades, artillery and RPGs on the consulate, later setting fire to the CIA annex, where Woods and Doherty were located.

Bondi said the length of time since the attacks did not deter the Trump administration from seeking out and bringing the individual(s) responsible to account. “If you commit a crime against the American people anywhere in this world, President Trump’s Justice Department will find you,” Bondi said. “It might not happen overnight, but it will happen. You can run, but you cannot hide.”

She recalled with some derision then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2013 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), in which she asked rhetorically, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

In 2015, Clinton testified to the House Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC).

Following Bondi FBI Director Kash Patel spoke, invoking his early days as a prosecutor working on finding the Benghazi perpetrators. He said he and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino launched an investigation into the attacks shortly after taking their posts early last year.

In addition to those killed, the attacks left three other Americans and seven Libyans injured.

At least one arrest in October 2012 was made in Turkey in connection with the attacks, while a second individual with possible involvement detonated explosives, killing himself, as authorities attempted to arrest him.

After Patel’s remarks, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, who will be prosecuting the suspect, also discounted the length of time since the Benghazi attacks with “Never forget.”

“Time will not stop us,” she said, in pursuing those responsible.

She revealed Bakoush was first charged in 2015 with murder, arson, attempted murder and “conspiracy to provide materials for terrorists and support.”

Additional suspects remain at large, Pirro said.