Top Republicans roll out bill that would undo 9/11 plea deals

FIRST ON FOX: Top Republicans in Congress are introducing a new bill to stop the White House from offering plea deals to suspected 9/11 terrorists. 

A pretrial agreement between the 9/11 defendants and the government removes the death penalty as a possibility for punishment, but legislation led by Sens. Tom Cotton, Intelligence Committee Chair, and longtime Republican leader Mitch McConnell would reinstate it. 

The Justice for 9/11 Act would prevent the military court from offering plea deals to the 9/11 terrorists by requiring a trial and ensuring the death penalty remains an option in sentencing.

And as President Joe Biden draws down the population of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in the final days he is in office, the bill would also require the defendants to be kept on the Cuban island in solitary confinement and prohibit them from being extradited to another country. 

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Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, 9/11 mastermind. (AP)

Trials for the suspected 9/11 terrorists have been drawn out for decades – and in many cases haven’t even started – due to administrative delays, debates over whether evidence obtained under torture is permissible in court and the coronavirus pandemic. The plea deal was meant to quickly wrap up three of the cases without trial. 

“Those monsters should have faced justice decades ago; instead Joe Biden set the stage to let them go free,” said Cotton, R-Ark., in a statement. “My bill will stop this travesty and prevent the Biden administration from replenishing the ranks of our terrorist enemies any further on his way out the door.”

“In the wake of terrorist savagery, our obligation is to deliver justice. However long it takes, those responsible for September 11th deserve nothing more,” said McConnell. 

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is introducing companion legislation in the House. Republicans now control both chambers of Congress and soon the presidency, granting the bill a good chance of becoming law. 

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“For the Biden-Harris administration to have offered a plea deal without the death penalty to the very people who planned the attacks that took the lives of almost 3,000 is a betrayal to our cops, firefighters and 9/11 victims and their families. The Justice for 9/11 Act will nullify this horrendous plea deal and prevent any future ones from being offered to those who perpetrated this heinous attack,” said Lawler. 

Biden is attempting to wind down operations at Guantanamo in his final day in office. ((AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File))

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tried to rescind the plea deals for three detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including alleged 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammad amid backlash, but last week, a military appeals court ruled he could not take back the deals reached by military prosecutors and defense attorneys and the deals were valid and enforceable.

The Pentagon has the option of going next to the D.C. Circuit federal appeals court for emergency review, but so far, there’s no indication they’ve done so. 

A hearing is scheduled for later this week at Guantanamo Bay, where Mohammad and two other defendants could plead guilty in separate hearings, with the death penalty removed as a possible punishment.

Hearings will follow in the next week for the co-defendants: Walid bin Attash, an accused deputy, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, accused of helping the hijackers with finances and travel. 

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Biden has tried to wind down operations at Guantanamo in his final days in office after a campaign promise to shut down the costly prison marred by a history of torture allegations.

The administration announced on Monday 11 Yemeni detainees, including two alleged bodyguards for Usama bin Laden, would be resettled in Oman, after being held for two decades without charges. The total number of men at the prison is now at its lowest since 2002 – just 15.