Holder Mideast trip cut short over Libya investigation

July 10, 2012: File photo, Attorney General Eric Holder speaks in Houston. Holder is cutting short an overseas trip and will return to Washington immediately to manage a criminal investigation into the deaths of the four people who died in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (AP)

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder is cutting short an overseas trip and will return to Washington immediately to manage a criminal investigation into the deaths of the four people who died in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The attorney general's change in plans followed remarks he made Thursday in Doha, Qatar, that the FBI has opened a full investigation into the deaths and the attack on the consulate. The attorney general is in the Middle East this week for meetings with his foreign counterparts. He originally had been scheduled to go from Qatar to Saudi Arabia and Turkey before returning to the U.S. on Tuesday.

In Doha, the attorney general said the U.S. is committed to working with the Libyan government to seek justice for the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans at the consulate.

On Wednesday, a law enforcement official said the FBI was sending evidence teams to Libya.