White House National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby on Sunday dodged answering questions regarding the abrupt plea deal reversal provided to a trio of 9/11 terrorists last week. 

“Is the president willing to let these terrorists escape the harshest penalty in the system of justice and let that be part of his legacy?” Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich asked Kirby during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Again, this was a decision made by a convening authority in the military chain of command, an independent convening authority,” Kirby responded. 

“He didn’t weigh in at all?” Heinrich pressed. 

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“The secretary of defense has the authority to change the delegation of that – of that authority to the convening authority,” Kirby continued. “I know that sounds kind of complicated, but he has the authority to do that. He did this on his own.”

“But did the president weigh in?” Heinrich asked again. 

“This was a decision made by the secretary of defense,” Kirby said, sparking Heinrich to say that she “didn’t hear an answer.”

The Department of Defense announced last week the Convening Authority for Military Commissions entered into pretrial agreements with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. The agreement included taking the death penalty off of the table for the three 9/11 plotters. 

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As outrage mounted over the agreement, the White House said Biden did not play a role in the deal. 

President Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on Aug. 15, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

“The White House learned yesterday that the Convening Authority for Military Commissions entered into pretrial agreements, negotiated by military prosecutors, with KSM and other 9/11 defendants,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The President and the White House played no role in this process. The President has directed his team to consult as appropriate with officials and lawyers at the Department of Defense on this matter.” 

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Biden has also rejected a proposal last year that would have spared the three suspects from the death penalty.

After the news broke, the Defense Department abruptly backtracked on the agreement on Friday. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has now taken the lead on the case. 

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

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has now taken the lead on the case. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

No explanation was offered as to why the matter was not settled before the deals were concluded and publicly announced. 

Heinrich pressed Kirby whether Biden asked Austin to rescind the deals to the trio of terrorists, to which the White House spokesman responded that Austin made an “independent decision.” 

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“This was a decision made by the secretary of defense. It was an independent decision by him, certainly within his authorities, as in the chain of command at the Defense Department,” Kirby responded. 

On Sunday, Kirby also addressed ongoing efforts to broker a cease-fire in Israel as war continues raging since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched an attack that killed more than 1,200 and led to the kidnapping of hundreds more.

Spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday. (AP/Evan Vucci)

“Number one, we still believe a cease-fire deal is the best way to bring this war to an end. It’s also, we believe, very possible. We still believe the gaps are narrow enough to close,” Kirby said. 

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“The other thing that we’ve been doing since the 7th of October is making sure that not only Israel has what it needs to defend itself, but that this war doesn’t escalate to become something broader, a regional war, a regional conflict. And that’s what you’re seeing us do.”

Concern has grown, however, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want a cease-fire. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer said he could not weigh in on Biden’s private discussions with Netanyahu about a cease-fire deal, while noting that the two world leaders have a candid and long-established relationship. 

Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer appears on “Meet the Press” on April 24, 2022. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

“I won’t speak to the private conversations that take place between the president and the prime minister. What I will say is these are two people who have a four-decade-plus relationship. One of the extraordinary assets in the US-Israel relationship is this personal relationship between these two leaders in which they can speak to each other directly and candidly. That’s been the case since President Biden came to office, it’s certainly been the case since Oct. 7,” Finer said when asked about Netanyahu potentially avoiding a cease-fire deal. 

“The United States has been extremely clear, both publicly and privately, about how urgent we think it is that the cease-fire and hostage deal be established. Nothing that’s taken place over the last week or two has changed that sense of urgency, and if anything, part of why we believe this needs to happen as quickly as possible is because in the Middle East, at a time in which there are hostilities taking place, outside factors can infect and disrupt these talks. And so we don’t want to allow that to happen.” 

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this article. 

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance told Megyn Kelly last month that Democrats are calling for an end to the Child Tax Credit because they are “anti-family and anti-kid.” Vance, who has courted controversy for calling Democrats the party of “childless cat ladies,” then declared, “We should send the signal to the culture that we are the pro-family party, and we’re gonna back it up with real policy. We’re the party of parents, we’re the party of kids.”

Republicans are using Vance’s kids and families rhetoric to convince voters to choose them in November, but they are failing when it comes to backing it up. In fact, they’re actively opposing important legislation to help children and parents.

On Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would expand the Child Tax Credit — the very policy that Vance has championed and just accused Kamala Harris of opposing. Vance didn’t show up for the vote. Killing the proposal was a loss to roughly 16 million children in low-income working families, who would have benefited from about $700 in tax relief this year. Estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show that the proposal would have lifted at least 500,000 children above the poverty line and raised the family incomes for at least 5 million more poor children.

The Child Tax Credit isn’t just the most effective policy tool for pulling children out of poverty — it’s also one of the most popular legislative proposals in the country right now. The current bill had bipartisan support when it passed the House in a 357-70 vote in January. Polling showed that 69% of Americans supported the proposal, including 80% of Democrats, 59% of Republicans and 63% of independents. The legislation even included tax cuts for some businesses’ research and development efforts as well as investments that Republicans have long sought.

Influential business groups made it clear that they wanted the bill to pass. But Republican leadership was able to keep it from getting to a vote, even with a majority of the Senate in favor, because 60 votes are needed to break the filibuster.

The big reason that Republicans killed the Child Tax Credit measure appears to have little to do with policy. Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley said the quiet part out loud in January when he noted that it might “make Biden look good.”

Republicans also fought the bigger, temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit that passed in 2021. That legislation was historic, and poverty among children was reduced by 44% to its lowest level on record while it was in effect. But during the last three years, the party demonstrated that it’s still committed to an economic program that puts tax cuts for large corporations above the well-being of children and families.

At the same time, the GOP has blocked legislation to build a universal pre-K system, enact paid family and medical leave, expand subsidies for child care and improve home care for older people and people with disabilities.

Republicans want to have it both ways, touting their pro-family agenda while blocking pro-family legislation.

Democrats shouldn’t just mock Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments or rely on legal cases, even felony convictions, to make their case in the closing months of this election campaign. The party‘s candidates need to make it clear who is standing up for children and parents.

Increasingly, Republicans are framing the parenting issue as an existential question. Focusing on policy for children and families, they argue, demonstrates a commitment to the future.

This is a debate Democrats should welcome — and one they can handily win.

Justin Talbot Zorn is a senior advisor at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Mark Weisbrot is co-director.

Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States, serving from 2009 until 2017. The former president was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu. His parents, Barack H. Obama Sr. and Stanley Ann Dunham, divorced when Obama was 2 years old. 

Obama’s mother married a man from Indonesia, where the young boy spent much of his earliest years before returning to Honolulu to live with his grandparents. 

Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years before he transferred to Columbia University to study political science and international relations. He later went to Harvard Law School in 1988. 

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After his first year of school, he began working at a law firm in Chicago, Sidley & Austin, where he met his future wife Michelle. The two got married in 1992 and welcomed two children together, Malia and Natasha “Sasha.”

Obama’s political tenure began in 1996, when he was elected to the Illinois Senate. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and gave the highly anticipated keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. 

In 2007, Obama announced that he would be running for president. He secured the Democratic nomination against former Republican Senator John McCain. Obama ran with the slogan “Change we can believe in.”

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Obama defeated McCain and became the 44th President of the United States, the first African American elected to the position. He was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.

After four years as president, he ran for a second term. In 2012, he was elected over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. With the conclusion of his second term in office, he delivered his farewell address to the nation on Jan. 10, 2017, from Chicago. 

Before, during and after his eight years as president, Obama penned four novels. His first, “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” was published in 1995. He later published “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” in 2006. 

In 2010, his book “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters” was released. “A Promised Land,” by Obama, hit bookshelves in 2020.