A courtroom painting by artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. military shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (center) on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008. and co-defendant Walid Bin Attash (left) attend a pretrial conference at the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mohammed was the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks. His trial date has been repeatedly postponed. He remains in Guantánamo indefinitely.
Janet Hamlin | Pool | Associated Press
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday withdrew controversial plea deals for three men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks.
“Today, Secretary Austin signed a memorandum reserving for himself specific authority to enter into pretrial agreements with defendants in 9/11 Military Commission cases,” the Department of Defense said in a press release. “Furthermore, as the superior convening authority, the Minister has also withdrawn from the pre-trial agreements signed in these cases.”
Austin announced the move in a memo to Armed Services Committee Convenor Susan Escalier, who negotiated the agreement.
“I hereby revoke your authority to enter into a pretrial agreement in the above case and reserve that authority for myself, effective immediately,” Austin said in the letter, which removed Escalil from the case.
The defense secretary said he made the decision “given the importance of the plea agreement decision,” adding that “responsibility for this decision rests with me.”
Officials said on Wednesday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Mohammed Saleh Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam Al-Hawsawi had reached an agreement Plea Agreement. The three are expected to plead guilty to lesser charges and avoid the death penalty, but the terms of the revocation agreement remain unknown.
The plea agreement was negotiated between the defendants, their attorneys and Escaril. Officials previously said the defendants were scheduled to appear at a hearing next week in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mohammed is accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,977 people.
A spokesman for the White House National Security Council declined to comment and referred NBC News to the Department of Defense. The Defense Department declined to comment beyond the press release.
The plea deal was criticized by the victims’ families and members of Congress.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee said Friday before Austin announced the decision that it would launch an investigation into the White House’s role in the plea deal.
Likewise, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said in a letter to Austin that he was “deeply shocked and outraged by the news” of the plea deal.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served in the Obama administration, blasted the deal in a statement Thursday.
“The people responsible for constructing this horrific agreement did the best they could. They were hit hard by political hacks and people who have lost faith in our justice system,” Holder told NBC News.
