Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdraws plea deal for 9/11 terrorism suspects

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday withdrew the controversial plea deal for the three men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks.

“Today, Secretary Austin signed a memorandum reserving for himself specific authority to enter into pretrial agreements with defendants in 9/11 military commission cases,” the Department of Defense said in a press release. “Additionally, as the superior convening authority, the Secretary also withdrew from the pretrial agreements that were signed in these cases.”

Austin announced the change in a memo addressed to Susan Escallier, the convening authority of the military commissions, who worked to negotiate the agreement.

“Effective immediately, I withdraw your authority in the aforementioned case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority for myself,” Austin said in the Letterwhich removes Escallier from the case.

The Secretary of Defense, who appointed Escalier will serve as convening authority for military commissions in 2023, said he made the decision “in light of the importance” of the decision to take a plea deal, adding that “responsibility for such a decision must rest with me.”

Authorities said Wednesday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi have reached plea agreements. The three men were expected to plead guilty to lesser charges that would have prevented them from receiving the death penalty, but the terms of the revoked deal remain unknown.

The plea deal was negotiated between the defendants, their lawyers and Escallier. Authorities previously said the accused was expected to appear at a hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, next week.

Mohammed is accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, which killed 2,977 people.

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council declined to comment, referring NBC News to the Defense Department. The Department of Defense declined to comment beyond the press release.

Congressional Republicans celebrated Austin’s decision to revoke the agreement.

Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was “happy to see” Austin’s action.

“As I have said before, if ever a case justifies the death penalty, it is this one,” the Texas Republican said in a statement. post to X.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Austin “did the right thing.”

“The previous plea deal would have sent absolutely the wrong signal to terrorists around the world,” Graham said. he said. “I know the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks will appreciate this – as will I.”

The head of 9/11 Justice, a grassroots movement calling itself the families of 9/11 victims, expressed frustration that families have been left out of discussions about prosecutions of the suspects.

“We are surprised and deeply frustrated that our families were not consulted or even notified in advance of the plea agreement or its subsequent revocation,” said the group’s president, Brett Eagleson. “These monsters need to be forced to share all the information they have about the attacks and be held fully accountable for the murder of our loved ones.”

The plea deal was originally met with criticism from victims’ families and members of Congress.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee he said on Friday, before Austin announced his decision to open an investigation into the White House’s role in the plea deal.

Likewise, Rep. Mike Rogers, the Alabama Republican who serves as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, he said in a letter to Austin that he was “deeply shocked and angered by the news” of a plea deal.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served in the Obama administration, criticized the deal in a statement Thursday.

“The people responsible for structuring this horrible deal did the best they could. They have been mistreated by political hackers and those who have lost faith in our justice system,” Holder told NBC News.

Holder said in 2009 that the defendants would be brought to trial in Manhattan federal court, where they could face the death penalty. Although this plan did not come to fruition after members of Congress blocked the transfer of all prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the US, the slow pace of defendants’ progress through the military commission system – a form of military court administered by the Defense Department — resulted in some unlikely support for a federal trial. Former Attorney General William Barr, who served in the administrations of former Presidents Donald Trump and George HW Bush, called the military commissions a “hopeless mess” and said the government “probably could get a conviction” in federal court.