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The federal government would be barred from entering into any future death penalty-free plea deals with terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others accused in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks under legislation introduced by New York Republican lawmakers.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-Rockland) introduced the “Justice for 9/11 Act” following the outcry over the plea deal military lawyers offered to the accused terror killers that would have spared them the death penalty.
The shocking deal was rescinded by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin two days later after backlash from the families of victims killed on 9/11.
“The idea that the Biden-Harris administration would offer 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 of our cops, firefighters and 9/11 victims and their families,” Lawler said.
“The Justice for 9/11 Act will ensure that no future plea deal will be offered to these terrorists by requiring a trial and ensuring the death penalty remains on the table,” he continued.
“Anything less is a disservice to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice on that day and in the months and years since.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Long Island Rep Anthony D’Esposito and upstate Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) has introduced a companion measure in the other chamber.
Austin, 70, withdrew from the plea agreement last week — two days after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and alleged co-conspirators, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, pleaded guilty to the terror attack that toppled the World Trade Center towers and killed nearly 3,000 on Sept. 11, 2001.
The latest on the plea deal that spares 9/11 terrorists’ the death penalty
The Pentagon boss claimed he was caught off guard by the plea deal.
That decision had been 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 office had announced the plea deal to the three al Qaeda terrorists — but a Pentagon spokesperson said Austin believed it was “a case of such significance that … it was appropriate for the authority to rest with him.”
Austin concluded that each of the accused terrorists should face military trials.
The terrorists have been held at Guantánamo Bay since 2003 — and congressional Republicans, veterans and 9/11 victims’ families were shocked to hear news of their potential life prison sentences.
