Top House Republican Launches Review of 9/11 Plea Deals

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter Friday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding answers about the 9/11 plea deals reached with three conspirators accused of the deadly attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Rogers wrote that the plea deal, which provided for life sentences for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two of his associates, “deeply shocked” him and was “a blow to many victims’ families.”

“It is unconscionable that the Biden-Harris administration would authorize such a plea deal,” he wrote in the letter. “Your department authorized a plea deal with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his gang of killers.”

Rogers demanded all information about the plea deal, including negotiations and side deals, as well as communications from the Biden administration about the deal.

Mohammad, also known as KSM, is being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He and his alleged accomplices have been there since 2003 and have been indicted twice by military commission but never tried. Two other accused 9/11 conspirators are being held at Guantanamo Bay but have not reached plea deals with the United States this week.

The U.S. military commission investigating the 9/11 attacks has struggled to secure convictions. The only person convicted on a charge related to the 9/11 attacks was Zacarias Moussaoui, often called the 20th hijacker. He was arrested in August 2001, before the attacks.

Since the plea deals were announced Wednesday, Republicans have criticized the Biden administration, accusing it of letting terrorists get away with murder. Families of 9/11 victims have also expressed concern.

In the letter sent Friday, Rogers said the plea deals “give hope to terrorists around the world that America is not willing to hold the worst of the worst accountable for their heinous crimes.”

“In short,” he said, “this agreement demonstrates a willingness to negotiate with terrorists who deliberately harm Americans.”