(The Center Square) – Three North Carolina congressmen, all up for election in 95 days, chastised President Joe Biden’s administration for the plea deal giving life sentences rather than potential capital punishment to three key figures in the 9/11 attacks on American soil.
The White House, in a Thursday briefing, said it was not involved in the plea deal of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The Department of Defense was responsible, the White House press secretary said. That department is led by Secretary Lloyd Austin, an appointee of President Joe Biden.
“The president had no role,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. “The vice president had no role. I had no role. The White House had no role.”
Lawmakers disagreed. And vehemently at that.
North Carolina U.S. Reps. David Rouzer, Richard Hudson and Chuck Edwards called the decision “disgusting” and a “slap in the face” to all Americans.
The three men charged as part of al-Qaida’s plot to fly fuel missiles – four commercial passenger aircraft, three of which hit targets and a fourth that crashed short of its target – will get life sentences in exchange for guilty pleas rather than go to trial. The lives of 2,977 people were lost as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, crashes at the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a Somerset County field in Pennsylvania.
“The families of those murdered by these terrorists deserved their long-awaited justice,” Edwards wrote on social media. “The Biden-Harris administration’s plea deal is a slap in the face to those families and all Americans who watched in horror as innocent lives were taken.”
Mohammed is believed the mastermind of how to do the attacks, which gained approval from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He was killed by American military in 2011 during the Obama administration.
“Sparing these terrorists from capital punishment is insulting and a severe affront to the thousands of American families who had their loved ones tragically taken from them,” Rouzer wrote on social media. “For the Convening Authority for Military Commissions to even think of offering these enemy combatants a plea deal is a grave infringement of justice and underscores the Biden-Harris administration’s weakness in standing up to America’s adversaries.”
In Thursday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave a rambling answer to a question on “a sweetheart deal because it avoids a trial and the death penalty.”
According to the official White House transcript, Jean-Pierre said, “So, look, this is basically what Jake said, this is something that we had no involvement in. He didn’t have any involvement in. And so, the pl- – the White House played no role in this process. And the president directed his – his team to consult as appropriate with officials and lawyers and Department of Defense, obviously.
“And, you know, we have said this before, you know, we – we are – you know, our hearts go out to the families who lost the loved ones on that – on that day. And, you know, the president on 9/11 has honored them every year and the families who, again, who lost their loved one on that terrible day. And we remain committed – this administration – remain committed to ensuring that the military commission process is fair and delivers justice to the victims, survivors, families, and those – and those accused of crimes.”
As Vice President Kamala Harris takes the reins from Biden as the Democrats’ presidential nominee against Republican former President Donald Trump, Hudson put the administration as a whole in his assessment.
“Kamala Harris has weaponized the DOJ to go after the Left’s top political opponent, yet she is cutting plea deals with the terrorists behind 9/11,” he wrote on social media. “This is disgusting and a slap in the face to the 3,000 lives lost, their families, and every American. Our country deserves better.”
Through Friday morning, others in Congress from North Carolina delegation had not weighed in on the deal. The plea is expected to be entered next week.
