During a campaign speech in Arizona on Wednesday, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), Vice Presidential candidate for Trump, criticized the plea deal accepted by three Guantánamo Bay attains awaiting trial following their involvements in attacks that occurred September 11.
Today alone, word is the Biden-Harris Department of Justice has cut a deal with al-Qaeda terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to escape execution. Vance complained.
“Just today, I heard that the Biden-Harris Department of Justice cut a deal with al-Qaeda terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to avoid the death penalty. It was reported today,” Vance said. “Now, as someone who enlisted in the Marines to serve after 9/11, that is ridiculous. But it’s not surprising.”
Driving yet another stake in the heart of military justice, Susan Escallier – Convening Authority for Military Commissions – would reach pretrial agreements with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi on August 30th.
Vance also renewed his attack on the Biden-Harris administration, arguing that it has “been a disaster for our country all over the world.”
“Now, just think about the point that we’ve gotten to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, have weaponized the Department of Justice to go after their political opponents, but they’re cutting a sweetheart deal with 9/11 terrorists,” Vance said. “We need a president who kills terrorists, not negotiates with them.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also commented on the rent plea deal on X.
“23 years ago, America watched in horror as thousands of innocent Americans died. America mourned for weeks afterwards as first responders sifted through the ashes at Ground Zero, at the Pentagon, and at the crash site in Shanksville. For more than two decades, the families of those murdered by these terrorists have waited for justice. This plea deal is a slap in the face of those families. They deserved better from the Biden-Harris Administration,” Johnson wrote in a post on X.
The plea deals come with undisclosed terms and conditions, but the suspects are not expected to receive the death penalty in exchange for their guilty pleas, five family members of 9/11 victims informed by the Office of Military Commissions (OMC) told The New York Post.
The victims and family members sued the countries over their roles in training, funding, and otherwise assisting 19 terrorists who hijacked planes that crashed into major buildings on September 11, 2001.
In September, President Biden earlier rejected a plea deal that would have spared the 9/11 architects and co-conspirators from execution. They are supposed to get their sentence in Guantánamo Bay on 5 August.
