The White House Wednesday didn’t rule out an executive order by President Obama to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Asked if Mr. Obama would consider such an order, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it’s a possibility.
“At this point I would not take anything off the table,” Mr. Earnest said. “This is a pretty transparent case of the United States Congress putting narrow political interests ahead of national security. That’s been a source of some disappointment for seven years now.”
Congress has thwarted Mr. Obama’s repeated efforts to close the facility, which was one of his campaign pledges in 2008. The administration has been gradually releasing detainees to their home countries.
Mr. Obama vetoed the most recent national defense authorization bill last month, in part because lawmakers again included a prohibition against closing Gitmo.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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