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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was surprised by news of a deal struck between prosecutors and the mastermind and two others who planned the Sept. 11 attacks.
“This is not something that the secretary was consulted on,” Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters during a Monday briefing. “We were not aware that the prosecution or defense would enter the terms of the plea agreement.”
The Biden administration revoked the deal amid public outrage and anger from loved ones of the victims.
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before a Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill. Austin revoked a plea deal between three terrorists who planned the Sept. 11 attacks and the government. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta / File)
“He believes that the families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case,” said Singh.
Austin revoked the agreement last week after prosecutors agreed to move forward with the deal that would have taken the death penalty off the table for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, and collaborators Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
The defendants are being held at a military installation in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” a letter from Austin states.
That decision was made by retired brigadier general and senior Defense Department official Susan Escallier, whom Austin had tapped to serve in the Office of Military Commissions (OMC), the New York Post reported.
LAWMAKERS, FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS REACT TO PLEA DEAL WITH TERRORISTS: ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist, is shown in this photo released by the FBI October 10, 2001, in Washington, D.C. Mohammed was…
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