Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance on Wednesday slammed the Biden-Harris administration for striking an incendiary plea deal that spared three suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks from the death penalty.
“We need a president who will kill terrorists, not negotiate with terrorists,” Vance told supporters during a campaign event in Glendale, Arizona.
The Ohio senator was referring to a Washington Post exclusive that revealed the Pentagon had approved pre-trial agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the al-Qaida attacks, and two of his alleged co-conspirators, Walid Mohammed Saleh Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi.
The plea deal means they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
“Just today I heard that the Biden-Harris Department of Justice made a deal with al-Qaida terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to avoid the death penalty. As someone who joined the Marines after 9/11, I find that absurd but not surprising,” Vance, 39, said at Wednesday’s rally.
“Look at where we’ve arrived: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have used the Justice Department as a weapon to go after their political opponents, yet they’re making a sweet deal with 9/11 terrorists,” he continued, incorrectly identifying the Justice Department as the prosecutorial agency.
“We need a president who will kill terrorists, not negotiate with them.”
The statement drew loud applause from the crowd and echoed sentiments from across the country, particularly from families of survivors of the Twin Towers tragedy who believe the only appropriate punishment for the perpetrators of the heinous attacks is the death penalty.
The plea deal isn’t the only thing Vance blames Harris for.
The “Hillbilly Elegy” author denounced his role as “border czar” during his three-and-a-half years as vice president, during which some 1.7 million migrants slipped past Border Patrol and lived in the US, according to data from the US Census Bureau. House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Vance also mocked Harris’ accent, which has drawn relentless ridicule on social media after she spoke with a Southern accent at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday.
“Kamala Harris is a fake who panders to the audience in front of her,” the Republican said, referring to her “fake Southern accent.”
“What the hell? Kamala Harris grew up in Canada. They don’t talk like that in Vancouver or Quebec or wherever she grew up. It doesn’t matter. It’s the same new liberal policies, just a different accent.” [depending on] It doesn’t matter who she’s talking to.”
The sarcastic remark follows Trump’s own assertion that Harris has “become black” in recent years to appeal to a wider audience.
The former president accused Harris, a 1986 graduate of historically black Howard University and a member of a black sorority, of being a “fake” and a “phony.”
“I’ve known her indirectly for a long time, but not much directly. She was always just Indian and promoted her Indian ancestry. I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago, when she happened to be black,” the 45th president said Wednesday at a conference of black journalists in Chicago.
“And now she wants to be known as a black person, so I don’t know if she’s Indian or black… but I respect both, and she’s obviously not.”
