Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) fired back today at the assertion yesterday by John Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, that four Republicans didn’t object when Brennan told them in December that suspected Flight 253 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was being held in FBI custody.
Hoekstra didn’t dispute Brennan’s account that he was one of four Republicans who was briefed by Brennan shortly after Abdulmutallab’s arrest. But Hoekstra maintained that they were only told that Abdulmutallab was in FBI custody.
“We weren’t told that he was going to be read his Miranda rights,” Hoekstra said.
Yesterday on Meet The Press Brennan said that when he briefed top Republicans on Christmas Day, none of them raised any objections to holding Abdulmutallab in FBI custody.
“They knew that ‘in FBI custody’ means that there’s a process then you follow as far as Mirandizing and presenting him in front of a magistrate,” said Brennan.
Today on Fox News, Hoekstra countered that he couldn’t possibly have known that “in FBI custody” meant Abdulmutallab would be read his Miranda rights, since he is not an attorney and Brennan did not “get into any kind of details.”
Referring to Brennan’s comments yesterday, Hoekstra said: “He said ‘they should have known, they understand what happens when I say that he’s in custody,’ and it’s kind of like, no, all of those options were still open when we talked that night, but he didn’t take us through that.”
He continued: “I know he didn’t take us through that because I’m not an attorney. If he had said, ‘Congressman, we’re going to put him through the civilian courts, we’re going to Mirandize him,'” then “I would have called my attorneys on the intel committee and other attorneys and said, ‘Hey, what are our options, what’s the best way to move forward?’ We never had the discussion that he outlined.”
When asked if he had actually objected to the possibility of Abdulmutallab being read his Miranda rights, Hoekstra finished strong: “We weren’t told that he was going to be read his Miranda rights! The comment was, ‘He’s in custody,’ and its kinda like, ‘Well thanks, John. I knew that.'”
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