9/11 CONSPIRATORS TO GET PLEA DEAL

A Pentagon appeals court is giving the green light to plea deals made with accused conspirators in the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.  The panel upheld a military judge’s ruling that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acted beyond the scope of his authority when he rescinded the three plea deals in August.  Under the agreement, the men, including accused mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, will plead guilty to war crimes for life prison sentences instead of facing the death penalty at trial.  The men are accused of working with the hijackers that killed nearly three-thousand people in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.  The court found that the defense secretary has the authority to negotiate pleas deals, just not retroactively.