The Obama administration is pushing back against criticism of the way it’s handled Christmas bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — but that doesn’t seem to be stopping Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) from continuing her own critique.
It started on Saturday, when Collins said in a video message that the Obama administration had failed in its handling of the Christmas Day bombing incident and subsequent interrogation of Abdulmutallab.
Next, there were a number of reports last night and this morning quoting administration officials saying that authorities had gotten useful intelligence from Abdulmutallab after getting his family to cooperate and pushing him through the court system — and after reading the suspect his Miranda rights.
But Collins sent MSNBC a statement posted on First Read today that was quite critical of the administration’s handling of Abdulmutallab. Collins’ office didn’t immediately return our phone call seeking comment.
Here’s the statement, as posted by MSNBC:
I remain concerned that there was no consultation with intelligence officials before the Department of Justice unilaterally decided to treat Abdulmutallab as if he were an ordinary criminal. If Abdulmutallab is now talking in the context of plea negotiations, that is, of course, welcome, but it implies that the government is willing to grant him a measure of leniency for the information he is willing to provide. We will never know whether the quality and quantity of information might have been superior had he not been given a lawyer who is now guiding him on what to reveal and what not to disclose. The lack of coordination on the front end and the inexplicable, reflexive choice to use a law enforcement approach were dangerous decisions.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went after Collins and her statement, sending an e-mail to White House reporters defending the administration’s handling of the case — and its decision to read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights. “In both terrorism and non-terrorism cases, the FBI’s experience has been that many defendants will talk and cooperate with the FBI after being Mirandized,” Gibbs wrote.
Plus, Gibbs added, “Abdulmutallab has not been offered anything. The Department of Justice take his cooperation ‘into consideration.'”
The men and women of the FBI have disrupted plots, saved American lives, and acquired intelligence that has allowed us to take the fight to terrorists overseas. That includes the counter-terrorism professionals who were on the scene in Detroit, and those who continue to gather critical intelligence from Abdulmutallab while politicians in Washington second-guess their work.
And Attorney General Eric Holder wrote a letter today to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (that Collins also received), saying that he was confident “that the decision to address Mr. Abdulmutallab’s actions through our criminal justice system has not, and will not, compromise our ability to obtain information needed to detect and prevent future attacks.”
But Collins, it seems, was just getting warmed up. She went on MSNBC this afternoon and stood by her criticism of the Obama administration’s decision to read Abdulmutallab his rights and put him through normal legal channels.
“We will never know how much information we lost that we could have acted on,” Collins said.
It troubles me greatly that if someone tomorrow is arrested trying to blow up a plane trying to come to the United States — there’s no indication that this administration has learned anything from the Christmas Day bomber and that incident.
