The Biden-Harris administration revoked a plea deal with the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks after bipartisan blowback against the agreement.
The administration announced the original deal, which would have taken the death penalty off the table for the terrorists, only two days before its revocation. The deal immediately met overwhelming bipartisan blowback.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memorandum Friday killing the deal, despite the three defendants — alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as well as his accused co-conspirators, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi — having already agreed to plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of 2,976 people, mostly Americans.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote to Susan Escallier, convening authority for military commissions.
Austin withdrew Escallier’s authority in the case to enter into a pre-trial agreement, assuming that authority for himself and immediately withdrawing the three pre-trial agreements.
The three accused al-Qaeda terrorists have been held at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay since 2003.
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Donald Trump’s running mate, tore into the Biden-Harris administration at a Wednesday rally for cutting the plea deal with three accused terrorists.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have weaponized the Department of Justice to go after their political opponents, but [their administration is] cutting a sweetheart deal with 9/11 terrorists,” he said.
“We need a president who kills terrorists, not negotiates with them.”
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.