Liberal Harvard professor and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin turned on the president Monday, telling a surprised Wolf Blitzer that Preident Barack Obama “clearly broke the law” by failing to provide Congress 30-days notice before releasing five high-level Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
“You’ve looked at the law, you’ve looked at the signing statement, you’ve gone through it,” Blitzer asked Toobin. “Did the president break the law?
“Oh, I think he clearly broke the law,” Toobin replied. “The law says 30 days’ notice. He didn’t give 30 days’ notice.”
“Now it’s true he issued a signing statement,” the law professor continued, “but signing statements are not law — it’s the president’s opinion about what the law should mean. Now, it may be that the law is unconstitutional, a violation of his power as commander-in-chief, but no court has held that. The law is on the books and he didn’t follow it.”
Blitzer was surprised. “You realize, of course, you’re accusing the president of the United States of breaking the law,” he said.
“Well, I don’t think the president is too worried about what I think about this,” Toobin laughed, “but I do think his critics have a very good point here.”
The Harvard professor even floated impeachment. “It matters, whether people follow the law or not,” Toobin asserted.