Defense Department revokes 9/11 plea deals following backlash

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday withdrew from a pretrial agreement with three alleged 9/11 plotters, after the department came under scrutiny for reaching a plea deal with terrorists, the New York Times has reported.

The specifics of the plea deal were never released, but the New York Times previously reported that it removed the possibility of the death penalty. At least two Congressional inquiries into the plea deal have been launched.

The Pentagon released a memorandum on Friday that withdrew the plea deal after releasing retired Brig. Gen. Susan K. Escallier, who oversaw the plea deal, of her oversight on the case. 

“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024," Austin wrote.

Austin claimed that releasing Escallier of her responsibilities was because the decision should have come from him, but he had been traveling overseas on Wednesday, when the deal was made.

The pre-trial agreement was made with the attacks' alleged mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, and his accomplices Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin 'Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, at Guantanamo Bay. Prosecutors allege that Mohammad presented the idea of hijacking the planes and flying them into the towers to Osama bin Laden in 1996. 

Discussions related to the potential plea deal began in 2022, but stalled last year after the Biden administration refused to consider improving the prisoners' living conditions. Some of the conditions the men sought were promises that they would not be held in solitary confinement, access to their lawyers, and more contact with their families.  

Just The News has reached out to the House Armed Services Committee for comment.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.