White House spokesman Josh Earnest refused to comment Tuesday on a report that Attorney General Loretta Lynch opposes an Obama administration proposal to adjudicate some cases of inmates of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay via videoconference.
“I’m not going to get into the views that are expressed in private conversations,” Earnest said on Tuesday. But he did insist that Lynch is on board with the goal of finding some way to close the facility.
“There is strong unanimity of opinion across the administration that closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay is a national security priority,” Earnest said. “I feel confident in telling you that every member of the president’s national security team, including Attorney General Lynch, supports that goal.”
Earnest said the administration’s efforts to find legal ways to close the prison is ongoing. But he declined to say what other ideas might be under discussion.
“You won’t be surprised to hear that the administration certainly is considering a wide range of options to bring to justice those individuals that are currently in the prison at Guantanamo Bay, so that we can close that prison,” he said.
“That work is ongoing,” he added. “The only reason we haven’t succeeded in getting that done is that obstacles have been erected by Congress to prevent that from happening. That’s unfortunate, and that is something that the president and every member of his team disagrees with.”
