Sessions makes first visit to Guantanamo under Trump administration

World Today

FILE – In this June 27, 2006 file photo, reviewed by a U.S. Department of Defense official, U.S. military guards walk within Camp Delta military-run prison, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

This first visit by Sessions and Rosenstein comes just over six months into the Trump administration.

“Keeping this country safe from terrorists is the highest priority of the Trump administration,” Department of Justice Spokesman Ian Prior said in a statement when asked about the Guantanamo visit.

“Recent attacks in Europe and elsewhere confirm that the threat to our nation is immediate and real, and it remains essential that we use every lawful tool available to prevent as many attacks as possible,” he added.

Sessions has been vocal about his approval of Guantanamo Bay’s detention facility, which the previous administration of Barack Obama vowed to shut down.

During a March 2017 interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, the Attorney General was asked about the closure of Guantanamo, saying, “I have not favored that.”

“It’s just a very fine place for holding these kind of dangerous criminals. We’ve spent a lot of money fixing it up. And I’m inclined to the view that it remains a perfectly acceptable place. And I think the fact that a lot of the criticisms have just been totally exaggerated,” Sessions said during the interview.

“It is important for the Department of Justice to have an up-to-date understanding of current operations,” Prior said, adding that “the purpose of the trip is to gain that understanding by meeting with the people on the ground who are leading our government-wide efforts” at Guantanamo.