White House national security spokesman John Kirby argued the decision to revoke the plea deal made with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was made solely by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The news of the plea deal, made with Mohammed and two others, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, was announced on Wednesday with no terms publicly available; it was then revoked by Austin days later. When asked if President Joe Biden had any influence on Austin’s decision, Kirby argued it was “an independent decision” by the secretary of defense.

“Again, this was a decision made by a convening authority in the military chain of command, an independent convening authority,” Kirby said on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream. “Secretary of Defense has the authority to change the delegation of that authority to the convening authority. I know that sounds kind of complicated, but he has the authority to do that. He did this on his own.”

When guest host Jacqui Heinrich pressed Kirby to see if Biden had any involvement in the decision, the national security spokesman said the decision to revoke the plea deal was made by Austin, prompting Heinrich to conclude she “didn’t hear an answer.”

The plea deal was met with outrage from Republicans, prompting House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to demand further information about the decision in a letter to Biden. Comer accused the president of “allowing these terrorists to avoid the death penalty.”

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Kirby was also asked about Marc Fogel, the high school history teacher who was not one of the Russian prisoners who was released in a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. Kirby contended that the U.S. tried to get Fogel included in this deal, but that the U.S. learns more about its opponents whenever it conducts prisoner deals, making it more likely that he will eventually get home in the future.

Besides Fogel, other U.S. citizens who are still imprisoned in Russia include U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, Robert Woodland, and Ksenia Khavana.