Republican lawmakers slammed President Biden Tuesday after a military appeals court judge refused to nix the sweetheart plea deals his administration granted three accused 9/11 plotters.
“This is an abomination. The fact that Joe Biden allowed these plea deals to happen on his watch is unforgivable,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wrote on X.
“Nearly 3,000 families will never be the same because of 9/11 — they have the right to see those responsible for their suffering face the death penalty,” New York’s 17th District rep added.
Outgoing Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), a former NYPD detective who represents parts of central and southern Nassau County in Congress, said the 9/11 plea deals along with an earlier reprieve given to federal inmates on death-row demonstrate that Biden, 82, is “fundamentally anti-victim & pro-criminal.”
“Last week, Biden saved the lives of 37/40 death row inmates,” D’Esposito wrote on X. “Now, his admin’s reckless incompetence may result in a sweetheart deal for architects of 9/11.”
“Biden is fundamentally anti-victim & pro-criminal — totally backwards,” the congressman added.
Rep.-elect Derek Schmidt (R-Kan.) bluntly tweeted that the Biden administration “is the worst in American history.”
The Post first-reported in July that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-conspirators, Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, had entered into pre-trial agreements that would spare them the death penalty in exchange for pleading guilty to war crimes.
The plea deals, which would allow the men to avoid trial and capital punishment but ensure they live out their lives behind bars, were offered by prosecutors with the Pentagon’s Office of Military Commissions.
Family members of several of the 2,977 people killed during the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Somerset County, Penn., were outraged at the news.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the shocking plea deals three days after word got out.
However, last month a military judge ruled that Austin lacked the authority to scrap the plea agreements and an appeals court ultimately sided with the terrorists’ defense attorneys on Monday, who wanted the sweetheart deals enforced.
All three men have been held at the Guantanamo Bay US military prison since 2003.
