Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was surprised by news of a deal struck between prosecutors and the mastermind and two others who planned the Sept. 11 attacks. 

“This is not something that the secretary was consulted on,” Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters during a Monday briefing. “We were not aware that the prosecution or defense would enter the terms of the plea agreement.”

The Biden administration revoked the deal amid public outrage and anger from loved ones of the victims. 

PHILADELPHIA MAYOR’S SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO SPARKS SPECULATION OF LEAKED KAMALA HARRIS RUNNING MATE

“He believes that the families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case,” said Singh.

Austin revoked the agreement last week after prosecutors agreed to move forward with the deal that would have taken the death penalty off the table for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, and collaborators Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. 

The defendants are being held at a military installation in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. 

“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” a letter from Austin states. 

That decision was made by retired brigadier general and senior Defense Department official Susan Escallier, whom Austin had tapped to serve in the Office of Military Commissions (OMC), the New York Post reported.

LAWMAKERS, FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS REACT TO PLEA DEAL WITH TERRORISTS: ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist, is shown in this photo released by the FBI October 10, 2001, in Washington, D.C. Mohammed was arrested at a house in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It was reported October 21, 2003, that U.S. officials believe Mohammed killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.  (Getty Images)

No explanation was given on why this was not settled earlier before the deals were signed off and publicly released.

The deal shocked the loved ones of the 9/11 victims as well as lawmakers who blamed Biden for going easy on the terrorists. 

“They’re the ones that want this off of their plate. It’s an election year,” Terry Strada, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, told Fox News Digital. “They (terrorists) committed this heinous crime against the United States. They should have faced the charges, faced the trial and faced the punishment. Since when do the people responsible for murder get to call the shots?”

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration did not play a role in the now-dead plea bargain.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

“This is not something that we were involved in,” Jean-Pierre told reporters last week. 

“We had no role in that process. The president had no role. The vice president had no role. I had no role. The White House had no role,” Sullivan said in a Thursday press briefing. “And we were informed yesterday — the same day that they went out publicly — that this pretrial agreement had been accepted by the convening authority.”

RON WYDEN, OREGON, CHAIRMAN
DEBBIE STABENOW, MICHIGAN
MARIA CANTWELL, WASHINGTON
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NEW JERSEY
THOMAS R. CARPER, DELAWARE
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, MARYLAND
SHERROD BROWN, OHIO
MICHAEL F. BENNET, COLORADO
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., PENNSYLVANIA
MARK R. WARNER, VIRGINIA
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, RHODE ISLAND
MAGGIE HASSAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, NEVADA
ELIZABETH WARREN, MASSACHUSETTS
MIKE CRAPO, IDAHO
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IOWA
JOHN CORNYN, TEXAS
JOHN THUNE, SOUTH DAKOTA
TIM SCOTT, SOUTH CAROLINA
BILL CASSIDY, LOUISIANA
JAMES LANKFORD, OKLAHOMA
STEVE DAINES, MONTANA
TODD YOUNG, INDIANA
JOHN BARRASSO, WYOMING
RON JOHNSON, WISCONSIN
THOM TILLIS, NORTH CAROLINA
MARSHA BLACKBURN, TENNESSEE
United States Senate
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-6200
JOSHUA SHEINKMAN, STAFF DIRECTOR
GREGG RICHARD, REPUBLICAN STAFF DIRECTOR
August 5, 2024
Michael D. Bopp
Partner
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-5306
Dear Mr. Bopp,
Thank you for your February 29th letter on behalf of your client, Harlan Crow, replying to
requests for information related to the Senate Committee on Finance’s (“The Committee”) investigation
into the tax treatment of the use of Mr. Crow’s superyacht and private aircraft. Unfortunately, your
evasive response has only heightened my concerns that Mr. Crow and his associates were involved in a
scheme to avoid paying taxes by claiming business deductions on personal travel. In particular, your
response did not address the simple question of whether Mr. Crow claimed any tax deductions on
expenses related to yacht and private aircraft use by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that you
have stated were for “personal hospitality”.
I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have been showering a public official with extravagant
gifts, then writing off those gifts to lower his tax bill. This concern is only heightened by the Committee’s
recent discovery of additional undisclosed international travel on Mr. Crow’s private jet by Justice
Thomas. As I consider legislative solutions to curb potentially abusive deductions, I am offering you one
final opportunity to address the tax treatment of yacht and jet trips involving Justice Thomas. I am also
offering you the chance to substantiate that the holding company for your client’s yacht, Rochelle
Charter, was genuinely engaged in for profit yacht chartering activities and not merely an entity used to
write off the cost of the Crow family’s luxurious lifestyle.
I.
Refusal to clarify the tax treatment of yacht and private jet trips lavished on a public
official in the context of “personal hospitality”
As you are aware, your prior responses to the Committee state that all trips Justice Thomas took
on the Michaela Rose and private jets owned or chartered by Mr. Crow were in the context of “personal
hospitality”. Personal trips do not serve as a business purpose, which is required under tax laws to permit
costs associated with the trips to be tax deductible. On several occasions, I have asked directly how many
times Justice Thomas traveled aboard the Michaela Rose and private jets paid for by Mr. Crow, and
whether Mr. Crow deducted the costs of these particular trips on tax filings. These should not be difficult
questions to answer. The possibility that Mr. Crow may have lavished secret gifts on a sitting Supreme

President Biden referred to Vice President Harris as “president” at least five times throughout his term, according to a new Fox News Digital analysis. 

Harris, who was propped up as the likely Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, recently appeared to mix up her own title while delivering a eulogy for late Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, on Thursday. 

“It was Sheila Jackson Lee whose bill made Juneteenth a federal holiday. Which, as a United States senator, I was proud to co-sponsor. And then as president – as vice president …“ Harris said, quickly correcting herself, adding “with the president, with the president.”

Before withdrawing his candidacy, Biden had made the same slip of the tongue on several occasions over the years.

NANCY PELOSI SUGGESTS ADDING BIDEN TO MOUNT RUSHMORE: ‘SUCH A CONSEQUENTIAL PRESIDENT’

In March 2021, Biden referred to his counterpart as the “president” while speaking about the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Now, when President Harris and I took a virtual tour of a vaccination center in Arizona not long ago, one of the nurses on that, on that tour injecting people, giving vaccinations, said that each shot was like administering a dose of hope,” Biden said.

While delivering a speech at South Carolina State University later in 2021, Biden said that “President Harris is a proud Howard alum.”

President Biden (Kevin Lamarque)

Biden made a similar gaffe while speaking in Georgia.

“Last week, President Harris and I stood in the United States Capitol to observe one of those before-and-after moments in American history: the January 6 insurrection on the citadel of our democracy,” the president said in January 2022.

HARRIS IS ‘BIDEN’S CO-PILOT’ ON ‘BIDENOMICS’ POLICIES THAT PROMPTED WOEFUL JOBS NUMBERS: TRUMP CAMP

Later in October 2022, Biden wished Harris “happy birthday to a great president” during an event at the White House.

Biden later used the same term to describe the vice president while delivering remarks on immigration.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024. (Andrew Harnik)

“President Harris led this effort — led this effort to make things better in the countries from which they are leaving,” Biden said at the White House in March 2023.

Harris is expected to be nominated as the official Democrat nominee at the party’s upcoming national convention in August. 

Efforts to reach the White House for comment were unsuccessful at press time.