FIRST ON FOX: House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital his committee will continue to probe a scrapped plea deal with the alleged terrorists behind the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday stunningly revoked a controversial plea deal that would have reportedly taken the death penalty off the table for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, who are awaiting trial in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The announcement came after House Republicans on the Armed Services and Oversight committees separately launched investigations into the circumstances of the plea agreement.

“I appreciate that Secretary Austin listened to my concerns and reversed this horrible decision,” Rogers told Fox News Digital on Saturday. “However, this plea deal should have never occurred. I still expect the Secretary to provide HASC with answers on how this happened.” 

The chairman wrote to Austin on Thursday demanding documents related to the plea deal, including “all documents and communications containing terms, conditions, agreements, side-deals, or any mutually developed, related, conditional, or linked agreements with any party relating to terms and conditions of the plea agreements.”

‘BAND OF KILLERS’: MAJOR HOUSE COMMITTEE LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ 9/11 PLEA DEAL

The GOP committee chairman also asked for records of communications spanning the Biden administration regarding the plea deal, which he called “unconscionable.”

“I, along with much of our nation and Congress, are deeply shocked and angered by news that the terrorist mastermind and his associates who planned the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, which killed nearly 3000 innocent people, were offered a plea deal,” Rogers wrote in the letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“Tragically, the news is a ‘gut punch’ to many of the victims’ families.” 

Rogers gave the Defense Department an Aug. 23 deadline to comply with his request. 

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION BACKTRACKS, REVOKES PLEA DEAL FOR 9/11 TERRORISTS

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers is demanding more information on the plea deal for Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and two other 9/11 defendants.  (Getty Images)

The terms and conditions of the deal were never disclosed, but it took the death penalty off the table, three relatives of 9/11 victims were told by the Office of Military Commissions (OMC), the New York Post reported.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001 in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil in American history. Families of the victims, groups that represent them and lawmakers had expressed bewilderment and fury that those who planned the attack might not be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

PLEA DEAL REVERSAL FOR 9/11 TERRORISTS WINS PRAISE AND DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE FROM VICTIMS GROUPS, REPUBLICANS

The Brooklyn Bridge 9/11 Tribute in Light in New York City. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

However, that deal was rescinded after Austin relieved the official in charge of the military commission who had signed off on the agreement and assumed their authority for himself. 

“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” the secretary wrote in a short memo Friday.

The defense secretary did not explain why he had not intervened before the plea deals were signed and publicly released. The Department of Defense declined to comment on Austin’s decision. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced a parallel investigation into the plea deal in a letter to President Biden on Friday. The committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Biden-Harris administration’s sudden reversal. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

After several lawmakers criticized the Pentagon for sanctioning painful experiments on dogs, an animal-testing watchdog group said the Defense Department is only the latest agency to be exposed. Now, one-by-one, departments have been forced to put a stop to it. 

One month after Fox News reported on the matter, representatives Young Kim, R-Calif., and Donald Davis, D-N.C., led more than two dozen House members in demanding a specific accounting of how the Pentagon spent taxpayer money in this way.

At the same time, a spokesperson for the White Coat Waste Project (WCW), an organization dedicated to ending the taxpayer-funded experimentation on animals, said he hopes the new attention, as well as a rider in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), will make the Pentagon the second known federal agency to halt painful testing on animals. 

Justin Goodman, WCW’s vice president, said in addition to the experimentation highlighted in June, Pentagon-sanctioned testing has also reportedly been “electroshocking” cats to study erectile dysfunction.

PENTAGON’S ‘BARBARIC’ DRUG TESTING ON DOGS RAISES HACKLES WITH PET-LOVING LAWMAKERS

He noted the exposure of the testing led House lawmakers to insert an amendment into the 2025 NDAA to ban the Pentagon from continuing with any biomedical pet testing. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., a member of the Congressional Dog Caucus, drafted that particular amendment. 

The letter, addressed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, demands information on the timeline for dog testing, the number of dogs who underwent experimentation, the USDA “pain category” of Pentagon animal tests and an explanation of the testing relative to the fact the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) does not mandate canine testing for human drugs.

“We are concerned by the DOD’s use of taxpayer dollars on inhumane dog experiments for human drugs and do not believe it is a prudent use of its resources,” the letter states.

It also asked for figures on current grants, contracts and expenditures related to testing at the present and within the last five years. Goodman noted the particular defense contract relating to the beagle testing revealed in June ended July 31.

FAUCI UNDER FIRE FOR REPORT ALLEGING NIAID SPENT $400K FOR RESEARCH INFECTING DOGS WITH PARASITES

A plane flies over the Pentagon Jan. 11, 2024.  (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

“This new letter also follows and cites our successful effort in the NDAA to unite Democrats and Republicans to defund all the DOD use (of cat and dog testing).” Goodman, whose group helped draft the letter, said.

“We have obviously exposed drug testing on puppies and these kitten-crippling experiments, but we don’t know the full extent of this wasteful spending because there’s such a lack of transparency about it.

“We eliminated dog and cat testing at the VA in recent years. And now we are working to make the DOD follow suit. And, unfortunately, there are several other agencies, including the NIH and the USDA, which are also spending taxpayer dollars to experiment on pets.”

Kim, the main signatory on the letter, said the Pentagon spent nearly $1 million on beagle testing alone, and she called the practice “inhumane and cruel.”

“The fact that this study was conducted despite DOD’s policy banning the use of dogs and cats for medical or surgical training and weapons development research shows we must continue to hold the administration’s feet to the fire and demand accountability,” she said.

Davis added that public funds should never be used for such testing and that Congress must work to stop the practices.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., who signed the letter, called the practice “horrendous.”

“It must stop immediately,” she said. “As co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, I’m proud to work across the aisle on efforts to stop DOD and other government agencies from abusing these innocent dogs and cats with cruel, costly and absolutely unnecessary experiments.”

Her fellow New York Republican, Michael Lawler, added that using taxpayer funds to experiment on animals is the “last thing” the Pentagon should be doing.

“Pet abuse is wrong, and we should all be working to end it. That must include the Biden administration, who have shown a propensity to testing on cats and dogs,” he said.

Two other signers offered similar takes, with Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, calling the practice taxpayer-funded “torture [of] animals,” and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., saying the Pentagon should look to proven, non-animal testing methods that are available.

In response, a Pentagon spokesperson said that, as with all congressional correspondence, the agency will “respond directly to the authors.”

“It wouldn’t be appropriate for the department to comment on proposed legislation,” the spokesperson said. 

In his interview with Fox News Digital, Goodman also discussed a 2022 letter from Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough to Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., regarding feline experimentation to benefit stroke survivors and vets who have undergone amputations.

McDonough wrote to Heinrich, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the VA, telling him he approved of such a study and included a legally-mandated report on it.

Goodman said the VA has since been compelled by Congress to suspend any active testing on cats, dogs or primates by 2026 and took issue with any claim McDonough has been opposed to such testing.

A metal plaque on the facade of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington, D.C. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

In response, a spokesperson for the VA said approval of a study does “not at all mean advocacy for the continuation of the policy” and suggested McDonough has been a bureaucratic leader in trying to halt such tests.

“Under Secretary McDonough’s leadership, we are no longer conducting any feline testing and are now bringing an end to animal research on sensitive species,” VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said.

“Historically, VA has conducted research using sensitive species only when absolutely necessary to care for those who have served in our military. Over the last 19 years, VA has proactively reduced the number of studies involving sensitive species, driving an over 90% decrease in these types of studies,” Hayes added.

“The allegation that Secretary McDonough was personally advocating for this research is false.

Asked about the matter, Kim said it makes her wonder where else such testing is happening in the federal government.

“Resorting to testing animals should never happen, especially as we advance technological innovation,” Kim said.

When the Americans freed from Russia stepped on U.S. soil late Thursday night, the first hugs came from a beaming President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The scene showed a dramatic, poignant and possibly life-saving rescue of “wrongly detained” U.S. citizens.

It was also the kind of image political election campaigns would pay a fortune to get.

Politics, perhaps inevitably, became a subtext to the multinational prisoner swap that freed 16 Westerners from Russia and sent eight Russian spies and at least one convicted assassin back to Russia.

Biden, in announcing the hard-fought deal, credited the relationships with U.S. allies, especially Germany, that he had worked to repair after the era in which then-President Trump was dismissive of such partnerships. Even now, Republicans are campaigning on a platform that promotes isolationism.

“Allies matter,” Biden said from the White House earlier Thursday, surrounded by families of the prisoners as he announced the swap was under way.

“For anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do,” he said in an unsubtle dig at the GOP. “Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world. Friends you can trust, work with and depend upon, especially on matters of great consequence and sensitivity like this.”

Biden noted that Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey, as well as Germany, had to be persuaded to make “bold and brave” decisions to cooperate, in some cases agreeing to release criminals without receiving anything in exchange. All five countries are members of NATO, a longtime Trump target.

Biden was able to burnish his legacy as a world leader with keen diplomatic skills in the twilight of his long political career, a redemptive and validating moment for a man essentially being forced aside.

At the same time, administration officials were deliberate in placing Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the center of the picture. They emphasized what they described as her role in sealing the deal, including a one-on-one meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a reluctant participant in the exchange.

Scholz’s assent was essential because of the release from German prison of a convicted Russian government assassin, who had killed a former Chechen rebel in broad daylight in the middle of Berlin, satisfied Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top-of-the-list demand. (Germany received five of its citizens who had been imprisoned in Russia.)

Administration officials also saw to it that Harris was at Joint Base Andrews, site of the U.S. military airport outside Washington where the freed Americans arrived, in time Thursday night to be part of the reception. Earlier Thursday, her participation was not certain because she was in Texas delivering a eulogy at the funeral for Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

“This is an incredible day and you can see it in the families and in their eyes,” Harris said from the tarmac where the freed Americans landed. The former captives, she said, showed “incredible courage in the face of atrocious and devastating circumstances.”

She both reveled in the heady moment and praised her boss and what his policies — many of them hers too — can accomplish.

“This is an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and strengthening alliances,” she said.

Whether or not by design, the deal also proved Trump wrong when he recently suggested that only he would be able to free the most high-profile of the captive Americans, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, because of his friendship with the autocratic president of Russia. He had said Putin would release the reporter as a “favor” when Trump wins the election.

It is not clear what impact any of this will have for voters.

But Trump was not waiting to find out. He swiftly launched into a rant disparaging the prisoner swap, suggesting without evidence that the administration may have paid cash for the release of Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan. U.S. officials said they did not pay Russia anything nor agree to ease any of the many sanctions Washington has imposed since Putin invaded Ukraine.

U.S. negotiators were “an embarrassment,” Trump said.

“They’re calling the trade ‘complex’” the Republican presidential candidate wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “That’s so nobody can figure out how bad it is!”

Every president in recent years, including Trump, has overseen deals to free U.S. citizens from imprisonment in foreign countries.

Biden, asked during his White House remarks about Trump’s brags that he could have freed hostages without giving up anything, said curtly: “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, made the unusual assertion that Moscow acted out of fear of a Trump presidency.

“We have to ask ourselves, why are they coming home?” he said on CNN. “And I think it’s because bad guys all over the world recognize Donald Trump’s about to be back in office, so they’re cleaning house. …

“That’s a good thing, and I think it’s a testament to Donald Trump’s strength,” Vance said.

The comment left senior administration officials scratching their heads.

“Well, on the last comment, I — I don’t — I don’t know what to say,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday on CNN.

“There’s absolutely zero evidence at all that this deal was brought about because of some potential fear of who might be the next president,” Kirby said.

As positive and optimistic as the scenes of the return were, Democrats might have a reluctance over using the images in the campaign. The prisoner swap carries some baggage: those Russians freed from Western custody in the exchange include convicted criminals.

In addition to the government assassin, there was a sleeper cell posing as a married Argentine couple with kids while spying; suspected malicious computer hackers; people accused of busting sanctions to steal U.S. military technology for Russia, presumably to use in its war in Ukraine.

By contrast, the Westerners who Russia freed were seen by the U.S. as innocents — journalists and peaceful opponents to the Putin regime.

Critics also note that these exchanges risk sending a message that rogue nations or entities can capture Americans or other Westerners, and the U.S. will make a deal.

“We need to find a way to break the cycle of innocent people being imprisoned in Russia on trumped-up charges and used as bargaining chips by Putin to secure the release of stone-cold killers who acted on his behalf,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said. “Russia needs to pay a heavier price in the future when they turn innocent people into pawns for their corrupt regime.”

Biden’s account on X, meanwhile, features photos and videos of the former captives joyfully embracing relatives. “Tonight is about reuniting families,” Biden wrote in one post. “Welcome home, Paul, Evan, and Alsu. You’re right where you belong.”