SDNY Defendant Apprehended in Case Tied to Foreign-Linked Terror Activity

0:00 Speaker 1 Well, important things happening in New York today. And what is today is the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jake Clayton. Oh well, mister Clayton, we have big items telling us terrorism. You tell us.

0:19 Speaker 2 Well, well, John, Today in the Southern District here in Manhattan, we presented a defendant who is charged with many terrorist relating counts, related counts, but most of all supporting terror across Europe and attempting to support terror into the United States.

0:43 These are many of the acts that you have seen across Europe, attacking US interests, European interests, and as set forth in the complaint unsealed today, acts inside the United States that were attempted at targets, motivated at our houses of worship, but most of all motivated to instill fear any division in America. And I am so proud of

1:14 the FBI. I am so proud of my prosecutors here in New York that mister Alsidi is going to face justice here in New York.

1:24 Speaker 1 Now, let me ask you something, how long do you think he’s been trying to get this stuff done?

1:34 Speaker 2 Four years? You all edged? Four years? John. This is a sophisticated network using all of the tools that we read about today that allow foreign actors to engage and tearror into the United States, using social media, using encrypted messages, using cryptocurrency to make payments, and using very whisticated, coordinated messaging to radicalize others. This is something that we are

2:06 tracking and thank thank god that the US and under President Trump, that we have devoted the resources to bring these people to justice. I can tell you that but for the respect we have on the world stage as a result of the actions of the Trump administration, this man would not be in detention in New York City.

2:33 Speaker 1 Now, was the acting on his own? Was there any particular government that you suspect was pushing him or how does it work?

2:43 Speaker 2 John, as alleged, and as I always want to make clear in America, these are only allegations. We have to prove them in a court of law. But as alleged, he’s working with both Hesba Llah and with the IRGC.

3:00 Speaker 1 It’s all coming from Iran and Iran related terrorists.

3:05 Speaker 2 And yeah, taking a step yes, John, taking a step back. What do we know And let’s not forget this that Iran used the money that they generated from selling oil for over forty years to sow terror and dissension in the United States and in Europe and in the Middle East.

3:27 And we now know that to a certainty, and thank god, we’ve decided that after forty years, enough is enough.

3:35 Speaker 1 Jay, we have so many problems in our country. Who is paying some of these protesters? I mean, some of them don’t come, don’t show up because they’re not getting paid. It’s getting paid. Any any suspicion. Has the FBI or anybody’s been able to break down any of these people.

4:00 Speaker 2 Well, well, let’s take a look at some of the things that we are learning. Even from the complaint that you see today, you see that foreign financed activity is directed into the United States to sow the seeds of dissension in the United States. And John, my belief is that put this particular situation aside, it is much greater

4:28 than we could have ever expected. The amount of foreign money flowing through various channels, including entities posing as nonprofits and charities and having a public purpose that are actually conduits through for dissension is something that we need to bring to a stop.

4:50 Speaker 1 Do we have enough troops to do that? I mean, it seems like so many people have gone through the borders and during the past four years before President Trump forty seven got in, do we have enough troops, Do we have enough US attorneys that are dedicated to be able to do that?

5:11 Speaker 2 We are doing so much more than we were several years ago, including including using artificial intelligence tools and data. John, we need more data from these so called charitable organizations. We need more data from our benefits distribution organizations. But with that data, we can better identify the bad actors.

5:44 And I am telling you that AI is going to have a big impact on the business community. I think it’s going to have an even bigger impact on the public sector, on law enforcement, on detecting benefits fraud, on identifying people who are here to do harm to Americans.

6:06 And we should harness those tools as quickly as possible.

6:12 Speaker 1 Anything else you want to tell the American people.

6:16 Speaker 2 I want to tell the American people that at the Justice Department, at the Southern District, at the FBI, at the State Department, and all the way up to the top of the White House to President Trump, that there are people working every day around the clock to protect them from actors like we’re talking about today. To protect

6:37 them from the cartels. John. Just last week we indicted a number of members of the government of Cineloa, the state in Mexico where the Cineloa cartel is centered. Those people are clearly looking to do harm to our fellow citizens, and we’re going to stop it.

7:00 Speaker 1 Drake Clayton, United States Attorney for the Southern District, keep fighting for America. Thank you so much for what you’re doing, and God bless you and er let’s save America. Er mister Clayton, thank you so much. Thank you. John