Do They Really Want to Go There?

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Jake Tapper posts an email from a “senior administration official” defending the Ghailani verdict (emphasis mine):

“So, we tried a guy (who the Bush Admin tortured and then held at GTMO for 4-plus years with no end game whatsoever) in a federal court before a NY jury with full transparency and international legitimacy and — despite all of the legacy problems of the case (i.e., evidence getting thrown out because of Bush-Admin torture, etc,) we were STILL able to convict him and INCAPACITATE him for essentially the rest of his natural life, AND there was not one — not one — security problem associated with the trial.”

On the one hand, I’m glad to see that Bush-era torture is accepted as fact by a senior member of the Obama Administration. On the other hand, since certain legal consequences should — yet haven’t — flowed from that fact …

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: