{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://byrne.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/byrne-obama-administration-broke-the-law-with-prisoner-exchange", "Byrne: Obama Administration Broke the Law with Prisoner Exchange", "2015-12-10", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Bradley Byrne", "B001289", "byrne.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement in response to a House Armed Services Committee report on the transfer of five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay in May 2014.\nByrne said: The Armed Services Committee report confirms that the Obama Administration broke the law by failing to give Congress appropriate advanced notification about the release of five senior Taliban officials from Guantanamo Bay in 2014. The Obama Administration went out of their way to hide the exchange from Congress and failed to ensure that the released Taliban prisoners did not pose a threat to the United States.\nI applaud Chairman Thornberry and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairwoman Vicky Hartzler for their steady oversight of the Taliban 5 transfer. I know they had a difficult time getting all the appropriate information, but they conducted this investigation in a first-class manner. \nUltimately, it seems clear the Obama Administration was more concerned about making national headlines and establishing a legacy than they were with following the law and protecting the American people. \nThe Armed Services Committee report included four major findings:\n The transfer of the Taliban Five violated several laws, including the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The constitutional arguments offered to justify the Department of Defenses failure to provide the legally-required notification to the Committee 30 days in advance are incomplete and unconvincing. The violation of law also threatens constitutional separation of powers.\n\tThe Committee was misled about the extent and scope of efforts to arrange the Taliban Five transfer before it took place. The Department of Defenses failure to communicate complete and accurate information severely harmed its relationship with the Committee, and threatens to upend a longstanding history and tradition of cooperation and comity.\n\tSenior officials within the Department of Defense best equipped to assess national security risks associated with the detainee transfer were largely excluded from the Taliban Five efforts. This greatly increased the chance that the transfer would have dangerous consequences.\n\tThe Department of Defense has failed to take sufficient precautions to ensure the ongoing national security risks posed by the Taliban 5 are mitigated, consistent with the Memorandum of Understanding with Qatar.\n Last year, Congressman Byrne questioned then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel about the Taliban 5 transfer. Byrne has repeatedly expressed his belief that the Obama Administration failed to follow the law as it relates to the transfer.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://byrne.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/byrne-obama-administration-broke-the-law-with-prisoner-exchange"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.222814993932843, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}