Kirby dodges over criticism of plea agreement for 9/11 plotters

White House spokesperson John Kirby dodged questions Sunday over a sudden reversal of a plea deal made with plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks last week. The plea deal was announced Wednesday and then quickly overridden by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Kirby told Jacqui Heinrich on “Fox News Sunday” that the move was not President Biden’s to make, despite waves of criticism from Republicans about the deal.

“This was a decision made by the secretary of Defense. It was an independent decision by him, certainly within his authorities, as in the chain of command at the Defense Department,” Kirby said.

The plea deal would have ensured that accused plotters Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi would not be given the death penalty and would be moved from Guantánamo Bay.

The three accused 9/11 plotters have been held since 2003, stuck in pretrial litigation. Mohammed, sometimes known as KSM, is accused of being the chief mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter Friday to Austin demanding answers over the pleas, calling them a “gut punch to many of the victims’ families.”

“It is unconscionable that the Biden-Harris Administration would allow such a plea deal,” he wrote in the letter. “Your department allowed a plea deal with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his band of killers.”

Austin canceled the plea deals later Friday, a move that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) praised.

The U.S. last transferred a prisoner from Guantánamo Bay in April 2023, leaving around 30 prisoners at the facility. The U.S. once held 780 prisoners at the site.

In a similar case, the Department of Justice denied a request by Zacarias Moussaoui to serve the remainder of his life sentence in France, The New York Times reported Wednesday.