Outgoing US President Barack Obama will not be able to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before the end of his second term in office, the White House has admitted.
“At this point, I don’t anticipate that we will succeed in that goal of closing the prison, but it’s not for a lack of trying,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his final media briefing on Tuesday.
Obama, who has just two full days left in his presidency, has failed to keep his 2008 presidential campaign promise to close the notorious prison.
“The only reason it didn’t happen is because of the politics that members of Congress of both parties, frankly, played with this issue,” Earnest said.
Calling the facility a “waste of money,” the first…