Sen. Dick Durbin is calling on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reinstate a plea agreement for 9/11 masterminds that was revoked last week. (Getty Images)
The news was followed by significant backlash, with family members of 9/11 victims reacting in fear.
"You know, after seeing this, like, I'm so afraid we're not going to get justice for my cousin and all the thousands killed that day and their families," Joe Connor, whose cousin, Steve Schlag, was killed on 9/11 and whose father, Frank, was killed in the 1975 FALN terrorist attack on the Fraunces Tavern in New York City, told Fox News Digital.
"A slap in the face to America and her honored dead," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, described the deal.
By Friday of last week, Austin announced he was withdrawing the plea agreements and relieving the official who had coordinated the deals under his authority.
"I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009," Austin wrote in the order.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was one of the accused terrorists who entered into a plea agreement. (AP)
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"Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself. Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case," Austin said.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price, Louis Casiano, and Ashley Papa contributed to this report.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia's reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/deeply-disappointing-durbin-calls-austin-reinstate-controversial-plea-deals-9-11-terrorists