Durkin and Kohlmann had several contentious exchanges during the proceedings, as Durkin argued that defense lawyers needed more time to build the trust of their clients.

CNN: 9/11 suspects decline representation

And much of Wednesday's hearing was devoted to questioning a potential expert witness for the prosecution, Evan Kohlmann, an international terrorism expert who apparently examined the contents of a laptop belonging to Hasan.

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Defense lawyers, who want to keep Kohlmann off the stand at trial and sought to undercut his methodology and conclusions, introduced their own expert witness who said that only a portion of the CNN report had been viewed.

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One item on the laptop that was cited by Kohlmann linked to a YouTube video of a 2009 CNN report featuring the network's national security analyst, Peter Bergen, talking about a newly released audio tape from Osama bin Laden.

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