Defense Secretary Loses Bid To Overturn Biden Administration’s Plea Deals With 9/11 Terrorists
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has lost his bid to overturn the Biden administration’s plea deals with three men accused of planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
President Joe Biden’s administration reached the plea deals with the terrorists last summer, allowing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi to avoid the death penalty while pleading guilty to all charges against them, including the murder of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, the Associated Press reported. Shortly after the plea deals were announced, Austin issued an order saying he would nullify them, the AP reported, citing the impact of the devastating attacks and claiming that he should be the one to decide whether the defendants should get plea deals.
But defense attorneys argued that Austin didn’t have the authority to reject the plea deals, which had been approved by Guantanamo Bay’s top court. That court said Austin’s attempt to scuttle the plea deals amounted to unlawful interference in the case, according to the AP.
If he chooses, Austin can continue to fight the plea deals by appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Following Biden’s announcement about the plea deals in July of this year, multiple lawmakers criticized the decision, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) calling the move “a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” McConnell said, The Daily Wire previously reported. “The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody. The families of their victims and the American people deserve real justice. In the same week that Israel eliminated some of Iran’s most trusted terrorist proxies, the Administration’s decision to spare these mass-murderers from the death penalty is an especially bitter pill.”
“Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris Administration still seeks to release other Guantanamo terrorists back into the world,” McConnell concluded. “The Administration’s cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace.”
McConnell was correct, as the Pentagon also announced this week it had returned Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi, a suspected Tunisian terrorist, back to his home country. There are now 14 men awaiting similar “repatriation” after being cleared as security risks, the AP reported. The Biden administration earlier this month also transferred three other men who had been held at Guantanamo without charge.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also slammed the Biden administration’s decision to remove the death penalty from the men who carried out the 9/11 attacks.
“23 years ago, America watched in horror as thousands of innocent Americans died,” Johnson said in July. “America mourned for weeks afterwards as first responders sifted through the ashes at Ground Zero, at the Pentagon, and at the crash site in Shanksville. For more than two decades, the families of those murdered by these terrorists have waited for justice. This plea deal is a slap in the face of those families. They deserved better from the Biden-Harris Administration.”