Political Quotes

“Mr. President, my Republican colleagues have frequently come to the Senate floor to criticize President Obama for his handling of terrorism cases. They have argued regularly and consistently that terrorism suspects should never be interrogated by the FBI and should not be prosecuted in America's criminal courts but, instead, they argue, they should only be held in military detention and prosecuted in military commissions. Today, I have noticed no one on the Republican side has come to the Senate floor to make those arguments. Why not? It may be because yesterday Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab pled guilty in Federal court to trying to explode a bomb in his underwear on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. Mr. Abdulmutallab, who will be sentenced in January, is expected to serve a life sentence. I commend the men and women at the Justice Department and the FBI for their work on this case. America is a safer country today thanks to them. My colleagues on the other side were very critical of the FBI's decision to give Miranda warnings to Abdulmutallab. Let me quote Senator McConnell, the minority leader. This is what he said on the floor of the Senate: He was given a 50-minute interrogation. He was referring to Abdulmutallab. The Senator went on to say: Probably Larry King has interrogated people longer and better than that. After which he was assigned a lawyer who told him to shut up. That is an interesting statement, but here are the facts.…”