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Lawmakers, Victims' Families Rip Biden-Harris Administration Plea Deal With Three 9/11 Terrorists

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  August 01, 2024 8:30 AM

Lawmakers blasted a plea deal the Department of Defense announced Wednesday that took the possibility of the death penalty off the table for three 9/11 terrorists.

Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two accomplices—Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi—agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and murder charges in exchange for a life sentence, eliminating the possibility of a death penalty trial at Guantanamo Bay, according to The New York Times.

Word of the deal emerged in a letter from war court prosecutors to Sept. 11 family members.

“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said the letter, which was signed by Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, the chief prosecutor for military commissions and three lawyers on his team.

The letter said the men could submit their pleas in open court as early as next week. [...]

Admiral Rugh and his colleagues wrote in their letter to the families that their decision to agree to guilty pleas after “12 years of pretrial litigation was not reached lightly. However, it is our collective, reasoned and good-faith judgment that this resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case.” (NYT)

The brief statement from the Department of Defense, which noted that the three had been jointly charged and arraigned in 2008 and again in 2012, said the terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not publicly available at this time.  

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson ripped the plea deal. 

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” he said in a statement. 

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“The plea deal with terrorists ... is a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice,” the Kentucky Republican added. “The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody.”

McConnell argued "real justice" needs to be served for the victims' families and the American people. 

“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," he said. "Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris Administration still seeks to release other Guantanamo terrorists back into the world. The Administration’s cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace."

Johnson, meanwhile, said the Biden-Harris administration "has done the unthinkable." 

"23 years ago, America watched in horror as thousands of innocent Americans died. 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," the Louisiana Republican added. "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."

New York lawmakers also blasted the plea deal. 

Victims' families, meanwhile, said they were "deeply troubled" by the latest development.