This is step one. Step two is getting him to relent on the civilian trial and send it to a tribunal.

“New York is out,” one administration official told the Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been officially announced. “We’re considering other options.”

The Justice Department is drawing up plans for possible alternate locations to try Mohammed and four alleged accomplices, two administration officials told The Associated Press earlier Friday.

Though the officials wouldn’t discuss locations under consideration, others have suggested Governors Island, a former military base in New York Harbor that now welcomes summertime picnickers and bike riders; the U.S. Military Academy at West Point or Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y…

Mayor Nicholas Valentine of the small upstate city of Newburgh has offered his community as a possible location. The city has a new state-of-the-art courthouse, he said, and is less than a 90-minute commute from Manhattan. The air base there has been used in the past to fly in terror suspects facing trial in the district.

As much as it pains me to say it, you can thank Mike Bloomberg, an official Friend of O, for this. Once he said he was cool to the idea, that opened the gates for New York Democrats to pile on. The One’s getting enough grief right now for his handling of Abdulmutallab — according to the Standard, exactly one senator was willing to support the White House publicly on that — that he doesn’t need this to snowball and hand the GOP and easy national-security narrative in November.

Here’s lefty Anthony Weiner giving you the “no fear” perspective. Exit question: Did Obama trade this concession for any congressional votes about closing Gitmo and funding a new prison? Someone call Mitch McConnell, quick.