Over the weekend, a confidential report leaked to the media in which Hillary Clinton urged the Obama administration to “step up” their efforts to close Gitmo and move suspected terrorists to the United States. As an early supporter of Clinton’s presidential campaign, will Jason Kander side with Clinton or will he stand up for Missouri and tell his party leaders to keep Gitmo detainees off American soil? So far, Kander hasn’t said a word.
And despite a congressional order barring the president from bringing detainees to the U.S, President Obama has indicated that he’s still ready to move forward with plans to close the facility and transfer prisoners:
President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday that authorizes military spending and sets policies for next year, but issued a statement designed to give him leeway to circumvent provisions blocking his plans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba…Administration officials have said the facility can’t be closed without bringing some detainees to the U.S.
Recent polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose closing the facility, particularly if it entails bypassing Congress:
About six in 10 voters also said closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center is the wrong thing to do, and 73 percent said they would oppose President Obama bypassing Congress and closing it through executive action.
And yet Jason Kander hasn’t said a word about closing the prison and bringing detainees to American soil. His silence tells voters all they need to know about his willingness to put Washington’s priorities ahead of Missouri’s.