EXCLUSIVE TO FOX: House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., informed Fox News Digital that his committee will persist in investigating a cancelled plea deal associated with the individuals accused of orchestrating the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin unexpectedly annulled a controversial plea agreement that would have allegedly removed the death penalty as a consequence for the masterminds of 9/11, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, who are currently awaiting trial at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. This decision followed the initiation of separate inquiries by House Republicans on the Armed Services and Oversight committees into the details surrounding the plea arrangement.
“I am grateful that Secretary Austin heard my concerns and reversed this terrible decision,” Rogers stated to Fox News Digital on Saturday. “However, this plea agreement should never have been considered. I still expect the Secretary to provide the House Armed Services Committee with explanations regarding how this occurred.”
The chairman sent a letter to Austin on Thursday demanding access to documents related to the plea deal, specifically requesting “all documents and communications that relate to the terms, conditions, agreements, side-deals, or any mutually developed, related, conditional, or linked agreements with any party regarding the plea agreements.”
‘GROUP OF ASSASSINS’: MAJOR HOUSE COMMITTEE INITIATES INVESTIGATION INTO ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ 9/11 PLEA OFFER
Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 29, 2023. The White House national security advisor recently spoke with China’s top diplomat amid escalating tensions. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The GOP committee chairman further requested all communications records from the Biden administration regarding the plea deal, which he labeled as “unconscionable.”
“Many in our nation and Congress, including myself, are profoundly shocked and outraged by reports indicating that the terrorist mastermind and his accomplices who orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent individuals, were offered a plea deal,” Rogers expressed in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Sadly, this revelation feels like a ‘gut punch’ to many families of the victims.”
Rogers provided the Defense Department with an August 23 deadline to fulfill his information request.
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION REVERSES COURSE, CANCELS PLEA DEAL FOR 9/11 TERRORISTS
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers is seeking additional details regarding the plea agreement for Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and two other defendants from 9/11. (Getty Images)
The specifics of the deal were never disclosed, but it was reported that it would have eliminated the death penalty, according to three relatives of 9/11 victims who were informed by the Office of Military Commissions (OMC), as reported by the New York Post.
On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 lives were lost in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. Victim families, advocacy groups, and lawmakers have voiced their disbelief and outrage that those responsible for the attack might potentially escape full legal accountability.
REVERSAL OF PLEA DEAL FOR 9/11 TERRORISTS RECEIVES PRAISE AND CALLS FOR JUSTICE FROM VICTIM ADVOCATES AND REPUBLICANS
The Brooklyn Bridge 9/11 Tribute in Light in New York City. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
However, this agreement was rescinded after Austin relieved the official responsible for the military commission who had approved the deal and took over their responsibilities himself.
“Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” the secretary stated in a brief memo released on Friday.
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The Defense Secretary did not clarify why he had not intervened prior to the signing and public announcement of the plea deals. The Department of Defense opted not to comment on Austin’s decision.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., declared a concurrent investigation into the plea deal in a letter addressed to President Biden on Friday. The committee has not yet replied to a request for comments on the Biden-Harris administration’s abrupt change of course.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
