Ayotte, who has been one of the most outspoken Republicans on detention issues, said there was little support in either Congress or public opinion to close the facility and bring terrorists onto U.S. soil.
“There’s no way that [the administration’s efforts to close Guantánamo] are going to be greater than his first term,” she said. “I don’t see this as something he’s suddenly going to be able to turn around.”
Obama’s pledge to shutter the Guantánamo Bay military prison was one of his biggest campaign promises in 2008, and he signed an executive order his first week in office to close the military facility on Cuban soil.
StewartÂ’s question, in fact, used the same phrase that Obama did at the executive order signing ceremony.
But in the face of fierce opposition in Congress from Republicans, Obama backed away from his attempts to close the facility and move the terrorism trials from military commissions into federal courts.
Read more:
Obama faces long odds to close Guantánamo Bay if he tries again | TheHill
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