Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Majority Whip and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wrote Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday urging him to reconsider his decision to revoke plea deals made with the leaders of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“We have a legal and moral obligation to deliver justice for these families, not the false promises that these commissions will deliver more. That is why I am troubled by your decision to vacate the guilty plea that, in the rational judgment of the prosecutors in this case, was the best path to final resolution and justice,” Durbin wrote.
He called on Austin to “listen to prosecutors who determine that obtaining a guilty plea is the best path to justice” and to hear “from victims’ families, who have a range of views,” and then evaluate “whether pursuing a failed and broken commission process could realistically produce a better outcome for the families than a plea.” Durbin asked him for an update a few weeks later.
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Durbin called on Attorney General Austin to reconsider his decision to withdraw plea deals with some of the 9/11 terrorist leaders. (Getty Images/AP)
Last month, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that it had reached pretrial agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Mohammed Salih Mubarak bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam Al Hawsawi. The agreements will allow the three alleged masterminds of the 9/11 attacks to avoid the death penalty, according to the DOD. New York PostThe Office of Military Commissions (OMC) has reportedly informed families of 9/11 victims about the condition.
Soon after it was revealed, the news received a huge backlash from politicians, mostly Republicans, and the families of 9/11 victims. Austin then announced the cancellation of the plea agreement, writing in a memo to the military commissions convening authority, Brigadier General (Ret.) Susan Escalier, that “Given the importance of the decision to enter into a pretrial agreement with the defendant in the above case, I have determined that the responsibility for such a decision should rest with me, as the senior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009.”
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Durbin said he was disappointed with Austin’s decision. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News Digital that, as with all congressional correspondence, the department responds directly to the author.
Durbin’s first mention of the rescinded plea deal came days after Austin took power: “I urge Secretary Austin to reverse this deeply unfortunate decision, which denies final resolution and justice to the families of the 9/11 victims and once again reveals the lack of independence that has plagued military tribunals since their inception,” Durbin wrote to X.
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Austin withdrew from the plea deal after facing backlash. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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The letter to the secretary represents an enduring concern that Durbin has been pushing for the possible reopening of the agreement for the three prisoners, which the top Democratic senator said brought closure.
“In addition to providing closure to the case, this agreement would have given the family the opportunity to access information and have their questions answered in a way that could not be obtained at trial,” he wrote.
Durbin also noted that the deal would almost certainly result in the defendants receiving life sentences, which he said would be “the harshest sentences the defendants will receive after years of litigation and appeals.”
