House Dem frontrunner's connections to ‘Blind Sheikh’ terrorist trial resurface and draw GOP fire

A trauma surgeon seen as the current frontrunner to succeed a retiring House Democrat was an acquaintance of and defense witness for the Egyptian-born cleric and convicted terrorist known as the "Blind Sheikh" in the seditious conspiracy trial that put the latter away for life.

Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman was one of several people convicted of seditious conspiracy in the aftermath of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Abdel-Rahman later died in prison at the federal detention center in Butner, North Carolina, in 2017.