Incoming Vice President J.D. Vance (R-OH) and other Republicans attacked President Joe Biden's administration for a "sweetheart deal with 9/11 terrorists," but it turns out it was a military court that refused to stop a plea agreement.
Fox News reported Tuesday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to revoke the agreement made by the Gitmo military commission.
"I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024," a letter from Austin said.
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It didn't matter. Austin appealed the decision, but the court ruled against him.
In an opinion that has yet to be published online, Fox News said the "deals reached by military prosecutors and defense attorneys were valid and enforceable," and Austin "exceeded his authority when he attempted to nullify them."
That will apply to the incoming Donald Trump administration as well.
Austin or Trump's secretary of defense can request an emergency review in the D.C. Circuit federal appeals court, but as of Tuesday afternoon, no such request had been filed, or it hadn't yet been uploaded.
The New York Post reported over the summer that the plea deal doesn't go into specifics about the punishment but that families of 9/11 victims were told it would likely spare them the death penalty.
