Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, will likely plead guilty after the Military Court of Appeals ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's call to abandon a plea deal, retired Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Friday.
"He's going to sit in the witness chair and spill his guts," Napolitano said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "The victims' families are going to get to question him while he's under oath in the witness chair. That's what this agreement provides for. The judge felt that this would give the victims' families a measure of relief by allowing them to confront this monster."
The appeals court's decision earlier this week kept the agreements on track to have Mohammed and two other defendants plead guilty to the 2001 attacks while being spared the death penalty.
"Whatever you think of the death penalty, if the evidence against this guy is to be believed, he triggered the murder of 3,000 people and the catastrophes that followed 9/11," said Napolitano. "He's been on trial for, are you ready for this, 21 years, and the case hasn't come to a jury yet."
He noted that the prosecutors initiated the plea agreement by arguing that they could not defend the use of torture.
But Austin called to undo the plea agreement and the Court of Military Appeals ruled that the agreement was binding.
"The plea agreement provides for life at Gitmo, which is a significantly nicer place than where he would normally go, which is the Florence, Colorado supermax," said Napolitano.
At the Guantanamo prison, Mohammed "gets all the health care he needs, he gets religious food, and he gets religious accommodations," he added.
Mohammed's court appearance will also likely happen within the next three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
He added that he does not believe President Joe Biden knew about the agreement "because this was a decision made by this general in the Pentagon in response to what her prosecutors in Cuba were telling her. There's a disconnect between the general and the Secretary of Defense and the prosecutors and the Secretary of Defense."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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