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Fox News Host Martha MacCallum then asks John Yoo, former deputy assistant Attorney General and law professor at UC Berkeley:

“So, the suggestion, at the White House the other day, John, was that Pam Bondi, the Attorney General would look into whether or not there was any legal basis to return Americans— to send Americans, I should say— to an out of country prison. Your thoughts?”

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“First, I don’t know if we need to do that. The United States runs plenty of prisons. There should be plenty of jails (scoffs). If there needs to be more, we should build more, but the main point is, wherever you send them, as long as they stay within the control of the United States governmemt, you don’t have to have any of these exaggerated worries that you just heard… I think unfortunately, from the congressman…

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John Yoo continues:

American officials (would be) in charge of the prison. They’re gonna run them according to American standards. American citizens are going to be governed and protected by the Bill of Rights as they always have been for more than 200 years. …this congressman…can always do something about this if he wants. He can propose legislation. He could have oversight…”

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Note: John Yoo, who served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel during the George W. Bush administration, has made controversial comments in the past and has skirted being disciplined or even disbarred by his state bar association.

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It was interesting to see the Fox newscaster simply nod in agreement that Americans’ rights would somehow be protected after they were sent to the prisons without considering that Mr. Yoo did not address the congressman‘s concern of lack of due process that would precipitate the Americans being sent away in the first place.

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More thoughts- My concern is the creative ways the #Trump admin & those in their orbit are trying to work around the protections Americans have. I was thinking of what Yoo said & I wonder if there is a way to effectively outsource a prison to a foreign country IF it is “run” by Americans & held to “American standards.” On the surface, it doesn’t seem probable (it would be subject to the country‘s law), but who knows w/ this admin as they have already done things that didn’t seem possible prior.