acts in the united states. pete, how thick is the case law on this not using the miranda warning, how many instances of this do we have that have gone through the system? well, it has gone all the way to the supreme court, so there s no doubt that the public safety exception exists, the government has used it before. they exercise it at the beginning and again with ab due ma tal he have. you can understand it. in a terrorism case, it makes sense. you re trying to find out are there other plots, co-c co-conspirato co-conspirators, there s public safety consideration and the courts recognize it. so it is pretty hearty. it would i think stand up if challenged in court. nbc news pete williams. thank you for joining us and thank you for your steady guidance through this week. very kind of you.
so it s not a highly sophisticated bomb. the tools used to build it would be readily available and it wouldn t be that difficult to do. i would like to make another point, anderson. there s been much discussing about isn t this terrorism, it s criminal. first of all, terrorism is a crime. so it s automatically a criminal case. but secondly, if it was not terrorism, the fbi would not be in charge. it would be boston pd run thing case. so it s clear the authorities are absolutely clear. this is a terrorism investigation. it s a terrorism case. and one of the politicians are worried about it sounds bad, we don t want to say that. we ve got to make it sound softer. it s only a crime. that s fine. but make no mistake, this is a terrorism investigation. that s why the fbi is running it. i think the point here is the motive does not matter right now. it was clearly a terror act.
revealed a sinister setting out a plan to hit soft targets in the u.s. and europe. the writer of these documents ta taking jobs with sensitive companies like those transporting gasoline and then wait for the right moment to strike. the u.s. justice department passed those documents onto german prosecutors who are working on a terrorism case. in guatemala a landmark case is taking place. it is the first time a country has tried an ex-head of state on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. now, back in 1982 the head of the military government for several months and prosecutors are trying to prove he was aware of and responsible for atrocities that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,700 indigenous people. until 2012 he was a congressman and was protected by a law that grants immunity to public officials. here s more of an uplifting
terrorism. the awe roar ca tragedy roar rah tragedy, true tragedy, is under investigation, and i don t want to get too much into the comment on that because there s a lot we still don t know. is there a federal presence and so torte in an forth in an investigation of that type? yes. reporter: but a recruitment center shooting in the summer of 2009 by carlos bledsoe who described himself as an operative for al-qaeda in yemen was not handled as a terrorism case. it was prosecuted in arkansas state court. and, as you mentioned, the fort hood massacre in november of 2009 where 13 were killed and more than 30 wounded, has never been publicly described by the administration as an act of terrorism even though the alleged shooter shouted god i great when he opened fire. now, we can have, really, a legal discussion about whether it s a hate crime or an act of terrorism. i just wish there was some
move, the underwear bomber umar farouk abdulmutallab has changed his plea to guilty today. this is the second day of his trial. he faces a sentence of life in prison. pete williams now joins us. what is the reason for the change? when is involved in the evidence or in his own decision-making? it s all in his own mind and he has not said why. his lawyer says it is against the lawyer s advice. there were things he was trying to keep out of the trial that the judge said the jury could hear, pictures and other evidence and apparently enough was enough and he decided to plead guilty. a lot of people thought he would use the trial as a soap box and he didn t do that until the end making a statement in court today, a bit of jihad propaganda. he will be sentenced in early january and faces a sentence of life in prison and so ends the biggest terrorism case since