Defense Secretary Austin taken by surprise upon news of 9/11 plea deals: 'Not consulted'

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Pentagon revokes plea deal for 9/11 plotters

Fox News' Marianne Rafferty has the latest on the plea deal that Pentagon prosecutors reached with three of the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was surprised by news of a deal struck between prosecutors and the mastermind and two others who planned the Sept. 11 attacks. 

"This is not something that the secretary was consulted on," Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters during a Monday briefing. "We were not aware that the prosecution or defense would enter the terms of the plea agreement."

The Biden administration revoked the deal amid public outrage and anger from loved ones of the victims. 

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before a Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill. Austin revoked a plea deal between three terrorists who planned the Sept. 11 attacks and the government.  (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

"He believes that the families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case," said Singh.

Austin revoked the agreement last week after prosecutors agreed to move forward with the deal that would have taken the death penalty off the table for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, and collaborators Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. 

The defendants are being held at a military installation in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. 

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

That decision was made by retired brigadier general and senior Defense Department official Susan Escallier, whom Austin had tapped to serve in the Office of Military Commissions (OMC), the New York Post reported.

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Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist, is shown in this photo released by the FBI October 10, 2001, in Washington, D.C. Mohammed was arrested at a house in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It was reported October 21, 2003, that U.S. officials believe Mohammed killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.  (Getty Images)

No explanation was given on why this was not settled earlier before the deals were signed off and publicly released.

The deal shocked the loved ones of the 9/11 victims as well as lawmakers who blamed Biden for going easy on the terrorists. 

"They're the ones that want this off of their plate. It's an election year," Terry Strada, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, told Fox News Digital. "They (terrorists) committed this heinous crime against the United States. They should have faced the charges, faced the trial and faced the punishment. Since when do the people responsible for murder get to call the shots?"

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration did not play a role in the now-dead plea bargain.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

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"This is not something that we were involved in," Jean-Pierre told reporters last week. 

"We had no role in that process. The president had no role. The vice president had no role. I had no role. The White House had no role," Sullivan said in a Thursday press briefing. "And we were informed yesterday — the same day that they went out publicly — that this pretrial agreement had been accepted by the convening authority."