US lawmakers slammed Wednesday’s plea deal that spared the death penalty for the alleged mastermind and two accomplices of the 9/11 attacks as a “national disgrace” and a “complete miscarriage of justice.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness vis-à-vis the nemesis of the American people seems limitless,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
“Plea deals with terrorists, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans, are an abhorrent abdication of the government’s responsibility to protect America and deliver justice,” the Kentucky Republican argued, noting that “the only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they’re in custody.”
McConnell, 82, lamented that the families of the victims of the worst terrorist attack on American soil will not get the “real justice” they deserve as a result of the plea deal.
“The victims’ families and the American people deserve true justice,” the senators continued. “The administration’s decision to exempt these mass murderers from the death penalty comes in the same week that Israel eliminated some of Iran’s most trusted terrorist proxies, a particularly bitter pill to swallow.”
“Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration is still trying to release other terrorists from Guantanamo into the world. The administration’s cowardice in the face of terrorism is a national disgrace,” he concluded.
According to information obtained by The Washington Post, the agreement reached between military commission convening authorities and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Mohammed Saleh Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam Al-Hawsawi will spare the death penalty. The three are accused of providing training, financing and other support to 19 terrorists who hijacked civilian airliners on September 11, 2001, and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The White House said it was first informed of the plea deal on Wednesday, and a National Security Council official told The Washington Post that Biden had “no involvement in this process.” The trial proceedings are being handled through the military justice system.
Still, Biden previously One of his goals A goal of his first term is to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, and this agreement could help expedite that.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration had denied any plea deals with terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.
New York lawmakers were particularly outraged by the deal, with Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) telling The Washington Post that she “cannot accept any plea deal with a terrorist who has murdered thousands of Americans, including many of my constituents.”
“We owe it to the victims, their families and the 9/11 heroes who continue to die from related illnesses to seek the death penalty,” she said.
“The world would be a better place if these monsters were no longer breathing our air,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) told The Washington Post.
“The terrorists who murdered thousands of Americans on September 11th should not be given the opportunity to spend the rest of their lives at the expense of American taxpayers, leaving their victims’ families to pick up the pieces,” he said.
The three terrorists are among five suspected 9/11 plotters who have been held at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2006, awaiting trial for their roles in the attacks that killed 2,977 innocent people.
“It is outrageous and unacceptable that the 9/11 mastermind and two of his accomplices received plea deals,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY). “It is an insult to every family who lost a loved one since 9/11 and to every survivor who continues to suffer from the health effects of that horrific day, especially the brave first responders who rushed into burning buildings and worked tirelessly amid piles of rubble.”
“These terrorist scum must be brought to justice,” the congressman added. “That means facing the possibility of the death penalty in a proper trial. Anything less is a complete miscarriage of justice.”
