Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Newsmax Friday that "the evidence is there" to try and to convict five of the remaining Guantanamo Bay prisoners suspected of masterminding that Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that killed more than 3,000 Americans.
"The evidence is there," Tenney said during "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" Friday. "The problem is this is mired in the legal process. And obviously, we want to see these defendants brought to justice, and we don't want the death penalty waived.
"It's projection of weakness again by [President Joe Biden's] administration to show that they're not going to actually deliver justice to these five men who are remaining at Guantanamo Bay."
Tenney was one of a bipartisan group of 34 Congress members who signed a letter to Biden from Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., asking the president not to remove the possibility of the death penalty in exchange for plea agreements.
The Hill reported that more than 2,000 family members of those killed in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil wrote to Biden to stop attempts by the administration to get the five to enter plea agreements that would stop their public trials in return for removing a possible death penalty sentence.
"The pain is all the worse as we learn from the Department of Justice, practically on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, in a form letter that it is proposing a deal with terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that will prevent a public trial and will continue to keep the information provided to his legal team secret and hidden not only from the 9/11 families but from the American public," the letter said in part.
Tenney said this has been "stressful" for the families who have waited more than two decades for justice in the case.
"It's tragic for the victims and the victims' families," she said. "This is very stressful for them to know that it's been 22 years, and nothing has been done."
She said the cases have been "battered around" between military and civilian courts through several administrations without action being taken.
"I still think we could have a full military proceeding where the victims could be present," she said. "But of course, we've been — they've been — denied that, and I think that they're owed that after what we've all been through."
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Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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