http://thehill.com/homenews/house/220453-pelosis-office-blasts-boehner-for-politicizing-gitmo-reportPelosi's office blasts Boehner for 'politicizing' report on Gitmo closure
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By Mike Lillis - 10/10/14 05:32 PM EDT
The office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday blasted Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for "politicizing" national security issues in the wake of a new report alleging President Obama might skirt Congress and close Guantanamo Bay before he leaves office.
Boehner said Friday that such a plan, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, would put Americans in danger by "importing" the terrorists detained at the controversial facility.
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill fired back later in the day, questioning the veracity of the Journal report and accusing Boehner of making political hay out of efforts to protect the country.
"We have no comment on this factually inaccurate news report," Hammill said in a brief email. "However, it is disappointing that Speaker Boehner time and time again seeks to politicize issues pertaining to our nation's national security."
Citing an unnamed senior administration official, the Journal reported Thursday night that Obama has asked his staff to weigh options for closing the Guantanamo facility, as he vowed to do on the campaign trail in 2008. The options include an executive move to ignore congressionally instituted restrictions on the transfer of detainees from the facility to the U.S., the Journal reported.
The White House was quick to push back, saying Obama has always been "clear" and "consistent" about his Guantanamo policies.
“We do not know what new press reports are referring to when they say the administration is ‘drafting options’ intended to ‘override a congressional ban,’” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement.
"It remains true that we continue to object to Congressional restrictions, as we’ve made clear many times," Hayden added. "To the greatest extent possible and consistent with our national security interests, detainees will be repatriated or resettled, or prosecuted in Federal courts or military commission proceedings."
But those comments did little to appease Republicans on Capitol Hill, who wasted no time condemning the White House over the Journal report.
Boehner said the strategy would not only put Americans at risk, it would represent yet another example of Obama overstepping his executive powers in defiance of Congress.
"Not only is this scheme dangerous, it is yet another example of what will be this administration’s legacy of lawlessness," Boehner said in a statement.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) took the criticism a step further, vowing to shutter the upper chamber if Obama follows through with the plan outlined in the Journal report.
“I stopped him once from trying to send a Gitmo terrorist to Leavenworth," Roberts said Friday. "I shall do it again and if he tries it again I will shut down the Senate.”
