NEW YORK – An FBI agent says Osama bin Laden's son-in-law and al-Qaida spokesman said he heard before Sept. 11 that "something big was going to happen," but he didn't know what it was.
Special Agent Michael Butsch testified Thursday at Sulaiman Abu Ghaith's (SOO'-lay-mahn AH'-boo GAYTHS) New York trial. Butsch recounted statements Abu Ghaith allegedly made after his capture last year.
Butsch says Abu Ghaith said he'd heard while visiting al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in summer 2001 that something major was planned but didn't know of any specific plan to attack the United States.
Abu Ghaith is the highest-ranking al-Qaida figure to face trial on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11 attacks.
He has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill Americans and of providing material support to al-Qaida.