'Path to justice': Durbin urges Austin to rethink revoking 9/11 masterminds' plea deals

Senate Majority Whip and Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a letter Wednesday to reconsider his choice to revoke plea deals reached with the accused masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"We have a legal and moral obligation to deliver justice for these family members, rather than false promises that these commissions will ever deliver more. That’s why I am troubled by your decision to revoke the guilty pleas that, in the reasoned judgment of the prosecutors of the case, were the best path forward to finality and justice," Durbin wrote. 

He called on Austin to "hear from the prosecutors who determined that securing guilty pleas was the best available path to justice," in addition to listening to "a variety of victim family members with differing views" before assessing "whether proceeding with the failed and broken commissions can realistically provide the families with a better outcome than pleas." Durbin asked for an update from him after several weeks. 

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Last month, the Department of Defense (DOD) revealed that pre-trial agreements had been entered into with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. The alleged masterminds of the 9/11 attacks would avoid the death penalty under the deals, according to the New York Post. The Office of Military Commissions (OMC) reportedly informed relatives of 9/11 victims of this condition. 

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Shortly after the revelation, the news was met with significant backlash from politicians, primarily Republicans, as well as family members of 9/11 victims. Austin subsequently announced the revocation of the plea deals, writing in a memo to Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Brigadier General (Ret.) Susan Escallier, "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."

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A spokesperson for the DOD told Fox News Digital that, as with all congressional correspondence, the Department would respond directly to the authors.

Durbin first remarked on the withdrawn plea agreements days after Austin took over authority. "I urge Secretary Austin to reverse this deeply disappointing decision, which denies finality and justice to 9/11 families and exposes yet again the lack of independence that has haunted the military commissions from the outset," he wrote on X. 

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His letter to the secretary marks an enduring concern from Durbin calling for the potential re-institution of the deals for the three prisoners. According to the top Democratic senator, the agreements brought about a sense of closure. 

"In addition to closure, this agreement would have given families the opportunity to access information and have their questions answered in ways that a trial, if it ever happens, is unlikely to provide," he wrote. 

He additionally noted that the deals would have near certainly resulted in life sentences for the accused, which Durbin said would be "the harshest sentences they are likely to receive after years of litigation and appeals."