The White House announced on Thursday that President Biden “had no involvement” in the plea agreement negotiations for three key figures behind the September 11 terrorist attacks.
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council informed Fox News Digital, “The White House became aware yesterday that the Convening Authority for Military Commissions finalized pretrial agreements negotiated by military prosecutors with KSM and other defendants from 9/11. The President and the White House had no part in this process. The President has instructed his team to consult as necessary with officials and attorneys at the Department of Defense regarding this issue.”
This announcement follows the Department of Defense’s statement on Wednesday that military prosecutors had secured a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, concerning their roles in orchestrating the September 11 attacks.
9/11 MASTERMIND AND TWO OTHERS REACH PLEA DEALS WHILE AWAITING TRIAL; FAMILIES OF VICTIMS ‘DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED’
President Biden (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The plea agreement could signal the conclusion to a lengthy process, with the case bogged down in pretrial motions in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without a trial date due to concerns regarding the admissibility of evidence obtained through the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, criticized as torture.
The specific details of the agreement were not made public, but the Office of Military Commissions informed the families of 9/11 victims that the suspects would avoid the death penalty as part of the agreement, as reported by the New York Post.
Although Biden was not involved in the finalized deal, he had previously rejected a proposal last year that would have ensured the three suspects would not face the death penalty.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a photo released by the FBI, Oct. 10, 2001, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
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A New York Times report detailing the deal, which was declined by Biden in September, indicated that the three suspects requested assurances from the Pentagon that they would not be subjected to solitary confinement, would be allowed to eat and pray with fellow inmates, and would receive civilian medical care for ailments they attributed to CIA interrogations.
Some families of 9/11 victims expressed their frustration over the agreement struck by the Defense Department.
“The prosecution and families have waited 23 years to present our case in court to document what these individuals did to our loved ones. They have denied us that opportunity,” Jim Smith, whose wife Moira Smith was the sole female NYPD officer to perish in the attacks, told the New York Post. “They carried out the gravest crime in our nation’s history; they deserve the highest punishment.”
Flowers are placed at the etching of Sneha Anne Philip’s name at the memorial during ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York, Sept. 11, 2011. (Reuters/Carolyn Cole/Pool)
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“I am extremely disappointed. We have waited patiently for many years. I wanted the death penalty – we feel let down by the government,” said Daniel D’Allara, whose brother John was an NYPD officer who died during the attacks, to the outlet.
