Republicans try to link Kamala Harris to trio behind 9/11 plea deal

Republicans are maneuvering to link Vice President Kamala Harris to a plea deal with the trio behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

On Wednesday, the Department of Defense reached a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Ramzi Bin al Shibh, three men accused of planning the attacks. Though the details of the plea deals weren’t made public, Republicans expressed outrage they were spared the death penalty. Soon after, many began to connect the move with Harris.

“Kamala Harris cut a sweetheart plea deal with the 9/11 mastermind so he could avoid the death penalty,” the House Republicans X account said in a post.

It followed up with a past video clip of Harris entertaining the idea of convicted terrorists voting from prison.

“In 2018, Kamala Harris was asked if convicted terrorists should have the right to vote from prison,” the post read. “‘I think we should have that conversation.’ – Harris responded.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) echoed the sentiment in his own post.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has done the unthinkable: they’ve agreed to a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11th attacks, and two of his accomplices,” he said. “For more than two decades, the families of those murdered by these terrorists have waited for justice. This plea deal is a slap in the face of those families. They deserved better from the Biden-Harris Administration.”

Stephen Miller, former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, laid direct blame on Harris, saying, “Kamala Harris approved a sweetheart deal for the 9/11 mastermind.”

“Kamala Harris, who said we must have the ‘courage’ to never say ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ just gave a plea deal to the 9/11 mastermind who murdered three thousand Americans,” he said in another post. “How is this not completely disqualifying?”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) denounced the deal as “sickening.”

“On September 11, 2001, as the world watched the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, the American people rallied together in support of our nation and vowed to never forget,” she said. “The Biden-Harris Administration just shattered that promise and betrayed the American people.”

“The families of the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 and thousands of first responders who died from 9/11 health-related illnesses, our service members, including 10th Mountain Division Soldiers, who gave their lives to eliminate terrorists like the ones that the Biden-Harris Administration are negotiating with, and the American people deserve a President that will honor their legacy and uphold the promise to never forget,” Stefanik added.