The Obama administration flatly rejected a warning from President-elect Trump to stop transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, telling reporters on Tuesday that more inmates will be moved from the military prison before the current president leaves office.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest told members of the press corps to “expect … additional transfers” before the end of President Obama‘s second term, noting that the current administration has long sought to close the controversial detention center in Cuba where 59 prisoners remain.

The announcement came hours after Obama’s Republican successor tweeted his disapproval of numerous transfers that have already occurred and warned against resettling additional detainees outside of the United States.

“There should be no further releases from Gitmo,” Trump said. “These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.”

Asked if the president-elect’s position might sway Obama’s thinking, Earnest was quick to respond: “No, it will not.”

“He will have an opportunity to implement the policy that he believes is most effective when he takes office on Jan. 20,” he said.

In light of Obama’s failure to close the island prison before leaving office, Trump has promised to not only keep Guantanamo Bay open but to fill it with “some bad dudes.” The prison housed nearly 250 detainees at the end of President George W. Bush’s second term in 2008, more than quadruple the number that will likely be left when Trump enters the White House.

While vowing to ensure a smooth transition of power, the president’s public tussle with Trump over Guantanamo Bay transfers is just the latest issue on which the two leaders have clashed since their first face-to-face meeting in November.

Trump was highly critical of the administration’s refusal to veto a recent U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s settlement policies, and both men have rejected each other’s conclusions on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Moscow deserves punishment.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-ignores-trump-will-continue-to-empty-gitmo/article/2610803