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More than 2,000 family members of people who died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks have signed a letter to President JOE BIDEN protesting a potential plea agreement between the Justice Department and five suspected masterminds held at Guantanamo Bay.

The possible agreement, which some victims’ families were notified about in a letter last week, only compounds their pain surrounding the approaching 9/11 anniversary, the families say — and their frustration at the U.S. government for continuing to withhold information about the Saudi government’s links to the attackers, despite repeated promises of transparency.

BRETT EAGLESON, who lost his father in the attack on the World Trade Center, now leads 9/11 Justice, an advocacy group for victims’ families that has sued the Saudi government and is seeking additional information about how the kingdom assisted the hijackers. Eagleson says his main problem with a plea deal for KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED, the most infamous of the purported masterminds behind the attack, isn’t that Mohammed would avoid the death penalty.

“This issue of life versus death is a distraction,” Eagleson said in an interview. “A plea deal avoids a trial, a plea deal avoids a public reckoning, and that's the important issue.”

“We cannot have the greatest terrorist attack in the history of this country fade away with plea deals for the last remaining prisoners in Guantanamo,” Eagleson added. “America deserves a trial. We deserve to know what they have to say and we deserve the truth.”

The letter about a possible plea agreement, the White House noted, was sent by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor for Military Commissions. Like with other Justice Department matters, the president was not consulted about it, according to national security council spokesperson ADRIENNE WATSON. “This letter reflects no policy shift, decision, guidance, or anything else from the White House,” Watson said. “We remain deeply committed to justice for victims of terrorists as well as accountability for its perpetrators.”

Watson also pointed to the executive order Biden signed in 2021 requiring government agencies — the FBI, CIA and the Justice Department, among others — to release more details about the attacks to the public. That move, which resulted in the release of more than 900 pages of formerly classified documents last year, reversed the Trump administration’s 2019 filing by then-Attorney General BILL BARR invoking the state secrets privilege to suppress additional information that might have shed light on the Saudi government’s ties to the 9/11 hijackers.

“President Biden made a commitment to assist these families in their work to seek full accountability regarding the declassification of 9/11 documents and to ensuring the maximum degree of transparency under the law,” Watson said.

But the government, the 2,000 family members wrote in their Monday letter to Biden, has refused to fully comply with the president’s 2021 order. “After more than two decades of our search for truth and accountability, we find ourselves again, inexplicably, thwarted by our own government,” the families wrote.

“Less than two years later, his agencies … are by and large, ignoring the executive order,” Eagleson told West Wing Playbook. “We don't think that President Biden realizes the level of intransigence that exists at the FBI.”

Eagleson wants to see the Biden administration share specific additional documents — and argues it would be a political win. “President Biden has a unique opportunity to separate himself from the past administrations, separate himself from President Trump,” he said. “Why doesn't he embarrass Trump over it? Trump is now hosting the Saudi government at multiple golf courses” via LIV Golf, Eagleson added, also referencing the millions in investment capital JARED KUSHNER has received from the Saudis.

But all this comes as Biden is reportedly considering meeting with Saudi Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN on the sidelines of next month’s G20 summit in India, Axios reported. At stake is a “mega-deal” that includes normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Given how MBS has sought to reform and modernize the kingdom, a full accounting of how low-level government officials in his grandfather’s government aided the 9/11 hijackers could go a long way toward demonstrating that things in Riyadh are actually changing, Eagleson said. But the 9/11 families are focusing their appeal less on the current Saudi leader than on Biden, urging the president to intervene directly and framing his choice in stark terms.

“We ask that you prioritize the interests of the victims of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks over those of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or other terrorists,” they write in their letter. “That you not bow to the demands of any embarrassed government officials willing to sacrifice transparency in favor of reputation; and that you continue to support us in our search for truth and justice.”

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How did RONALD REAGAN become hard of hearing?

(Answer at bottom.)

BEIJING BOUND: Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO will travel to China’s capital city and Shanghai next week, the department announced on Tuesday. She plans to meet with PRC officials and U.S. business leaders about U.S.-China commercial relationship, challenges faced by U.S. businesses, and areas for potential cooperation.

As our DOUG PALMER reports for Pro subscribers, the trip comes as China grows more frustrated with export controls on microchip equipment and on the heels of Biden’s trilateral summit last week with Japan and South Korea, which pledged to deepen their cooperation on economic matters and defense. It continues a string of Cabinet-level engagements with the PRC after Biden and Chinese President XI JINPING agreed in November to work to improve relations between the world’s two largest economic powers.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s DAN NAKASO about how Biden met with survivors of Maui’s catastrophic wildfires. The president promised to support Hawaii for “as long as it takes” as he toured the destruction with first lady JILL BIDEN and Hawaii Gov. JOSH GREEN. He also spoke to a crowd at the Lahaina Civic Center and offered to stay afterwards to speak with anyone who wanted to talk with him. Deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND tweeted this piece.

And this story from The Daily Beast’s WILLIAM VAILLANCOURT about the White House press shop calling out the Republican National Committee’s Twitter account for criticizing Biden for petting a dog on Monday while meeting with first responders in Hawaii. “He's petting one of the dogs that's working hard searching for remains so survivors who've lost loved ones can have closure,” deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES tweeted. “This criticism is classless and stupid.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by CBS News’ CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ about how the administration has been reluctant to pursue actions requested by local leaders to alleviate the strain that migrants are placing on cities. Officials have asked the federal government to consider granting migrants temporary legal status to accelerate applications for work permits, but the administration has hesitated over fears it could prompt lawsuits and encourage more people to unlawfully enter the country.

“Politically, the cities' concerns about the number of migrants in need of shelter have placed the administration in the awkward position of fielding public criticism from Democratic allies on a divisive issue that Republicans are eager to highlight heading into an election year,” Montoya-Galvez writes.

WHAT THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by the Washington Post’s JEANNE WHALEN about how a Foxconn manufacturing facility in Wisconsin — billed by the Trump as the “eighth wonder of the world” — has not delivered anywhere near the number of jobs promised for the region. Only 1,000 people work at the facility after the Taiwanese company promised the project would create 13,000 high-tech jobs and led state and local governments to spend roughly $500 million prepping the megasite. The effort stands in contrast to manufacturing growth during Biden’s presidency, which has led to a boom in factories across the country and more than $270 billion in private investment.

THEY FILLED THAT JOB FAST: Biden has tapped EDWARD “ED” SISKEL to serve as White House counsel, following last week's announcement that STUART DELERY would leave next month, our SHIA KAPOS reports.

Siskel previously worked in the White House counsel’s office during the Obama administration where he helped defend against legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, before working for former Chicago Mayor RAHM EMANUEL. Most recently, Siskel was chief legal officer for a Chicago-based investment firm.

HARRIS ALUM JOINS CAMPAIGN: SERGIO GONZALES is joining the Biden-Harris campaign as a senior adviser for Vice President KAMALA HARRIS. He currently serves as executive director at The Immigration Hub and worked as a senior policy advisor to Harris when she represented California in the Senate.

MORE PERSONNEL MOVES: JING QU, chief of staff to senior adviser MIKE DONILON and the White House speechwriting office, is now a special assistant to the president.

— KATHERINE DELGIUDICE is now a special assistant on the policy and communications team of first lady Jill Biden. She is a former scheduling and advance intern for the first lady and recently graduated from American University.

— BRENNA OLRICH is now associate director of finance at the White House. She most recently was an operations associate at Protect Democracy.

— KEENAN SKELLY is now senior policy adviser for the Office of the National Cyber Director. She most recently was CEO of Spark Security Solutions and founder of the XRVillage.

— ROBERT HA is now associate director focused on racial and economic justice issues for the Domestic Policy Council. He most recently was special assistant for economic mobility and racial justice and equity for DPC.

SPREADING THE WORD: Biden launched a promotional effort aimed at urging student loan borrowers to sign up for the administration’s new SAVE Plan, an income-driven loan repayment program which caps interest accrual and lowers monthly payments. Our MICHAEL STRATFORD writes that the administration plans to coordinate its outreach with organizations including the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Student Debt Crisis Center, among many others.

“If you’re eligible for the SAVE Plan, sign up now so you can lower your monthly payments in advance of payments resuming this fall,” Biden said in a video released by the White House on Tuesday.

BEATING THEIR OWN PROJECTIONS: The administration is now targeting mid-September to provide updated Covid vaccines at pharmacies for uninsured Americans, after initially projecting shots wouldn’t arrive until October.

Experts expressed concern that a later fall rollout could dissuade people from getting shots, prompting the administration to speed up its negotiations with pharmacies. However, the abrupt shift could still lead to delays as individual pharmacy locations sort out logistics. Our ADAM CANCRYN and DAVID LIM have the details.

Whistleblower to DOJ: You’ve left the door open for more fraud (POLITICO's Hailey Fuchs)

Ukraine’s Forces and Firepower Are Misallocated, U.S. Officials Say (NYT’s Eric Schmitt, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Thomas Gibbons-Neff)

Megan Rapinoe Answers the Critics (The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer)

As a high school student, White House senior adviser MORGAN MOHR was a huge fan of former TIME Magazine contributor JOE KLEIN’s writing, going so far as to send him a hilarious email request. In her email, Mohr, who had just voted for the first time, asked to meet Klein, while also throwing shade at the Indiana public school system (which she attended) and conservative people in her life.

"I am a feminazi-slut-atheist-post-modern-democrat living in INDIANA (much to my despair), surrounded by conservatives (my parents, many of my friends) and INSANE TEA-BAGGERS (the rest of Indiana)," Mohr wrote. "Meeting you would enlighten me, and therefore the state."

Mohr’s email may have been a shot in the dark, but it worked! "There was no way I wasn’t going to meet this kid," Klein wrote in a 2012 blog post about the whole episode. "Morgan was obviously exaggerating for effect in describing herself, her parents and her state in the famous email. She is neither slut nor feminazi. She is an extremely poised and intelligent young woman, who wants to go to law school but dreams of becoming a writer. (Based on the email, I’d say she has the chops.)"

During the filming of the movie “Code of the Secret Service” between 1939 and 1940, another person on set fired a pistol near Reagan’s head. Reagan, then at the beginning of his acting career, played BRASS BANCROFT. The incident caused him to lose some of his hearing, though he did not begin wearing a hearing aid until 1983.

Thanks to the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute for this question!

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

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