The House Oversight Committee informed President Biden in a Friday letter that it was launching a probe of his administration’s role in a plea deal for the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and two other terrorists.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) pointed out in the letter to Biden that the “timeline” of the negotiations for the plea agreement “falls entirely within your Administration” — but the White House Security Council claimed the president “played no role in the negotiations.”
“That White House officials and you, as President and Commander in Chief, would seek to distance your Administration from this decision is understandable given how absurd it is, but it is far from believable or appropriate,” Comer said.
The missive further notes the “complete lack of transparency regarding the deal” — as the terms of the plea deal remain unknown even after more than two years of negotiations that were ultimately signed off by senior officials in the Pentagon.
The Office of Military Commissions confirmed Wednesday it had entered into the pre-trial agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the al Qaeda attacks, as well as alleged co-conspirators Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
All three, who had been held in Guantánamo Bay since 2003, were spared the death penalty.