President Obama still demanding flexibility in transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees

@markknoller @SpeakerRyan A bill requiring Mr. Obama to do what's been his job ever since ISIS emerged on the scene. How awesome!

— Marc Hoover (@MarcHoover1) November 25, 2015

President Obama was highly visible today, issuing a questionable national security statement from the White House’s Roosevelt Room and participating in the traditional presidential pardon of the White House turkey. CBS News’ Mark Knoller notes that the president also quietly signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, along with a signing statement.

Without ceremony, Pres Obama quietly signs Defense Authorization Bill barring his transfer of Gitmo detainees to US-based prisons.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 25, 2015

In signing defence spending bill, Obama shortens the odds he'll be able to close Gitmo. The bill curbs transfer of prisoners to US

— Andrew Beatty (@AndrewBeatty) November 25, 2015

As Twitchy reported, the president earlier this month said he’d announce his latest plan to close Guantanamo Bay “soon,” and a Pentagon team has scouted out possible homes for the Guantanamo Bay detainees in South Carolina, Kansas, and Colorado.

Of course, one of the first things President Obama signed as president in January 2009 was a demand that the detention center at Gitmo be closed within one year. It’s no surprise, then, that his signing statement repeatedly states his disappointment in Congress for impeding his progress.

“I am … deeply disappointed that the Congress has again failed to take productive action toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo,” wrote the president in his statement. “Maintaining this site, year after year, is not consistent with our interests as a Nation and undermines our standing in the world. As I have said before, the continued operation of this facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists.”

He continues:

“As I have said repeatedly, the executive branch must have the flexibility, with regard to the detainees who remain at Guantanamo, to determine when and where to prosecute them, based on the facts and circumstances of each case and our national security interests, and when and where to transfer them consistent with our national security and our humane treatment policy.”

If the Defense Bill violates his constitutional powers, his Admin "will implement them in a manner that avoids the constitutional conflict."

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 25, 2015

The statement lays the groundwork for a constitutional clash that only the Supreme Court could settle about Gitmo transfer of detainees.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 25, 2015

One more thing:

The Defense Bill also requires the Admin to present a strategy for the defeat of ISIL and provide resources to Iraq for that purpose.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 25, 2015

We thought the administration already had a plan to defeat ISIL: eliminate global warming at the climate change summit in Paris, provide terrorists better job opportunities, and ultimately defeat them with “better ideas — a more attractive, more compelling vision.” That vision will be revealed … soon.