Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Conservatives Quiet After Saying Civilian System Couldn't Handle Underwear Bomber

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2012, 11:58AM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called "underwear bomber," was sentenced to life in prison Thursday following his trial in federal court. Two years ago, Republicans insisted trying Abdulmutallab in federal court was a terrible idea.

There was a time when the circumstances surrounding Abdulmutallab's arrest were part of a lengthy national debate about the best way to handle terrorism cases. There were letters, television appearances and press releases calling on the Obama administration to reverse its position and send Abdulmutallab into the military tribunal system due to perceived weaknesses in the civilian court system.

Now that he's locked up for life, it's pretty much radio silence. A search for press releases mentioning Abdulmutallab from members of Congress this week turns up just one, from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who said the sentence 'demonstrations that our federal court system is fully capable of bringing terrorist to justice."

Still it's worth revisiting just what critics of the civilian court system predicted. Some examples:

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FBI

Judge In 'Underwear Bomber' Case Upholds Obama's Miranda Exception

Ryan J. Reilly | September 19, 2011, 12:30PM

Flight 253 bomb attack suspect Umar Abdulmutallab

The federal judge handling the case against the so-called "underwear bomber" just handed the Obama administration a major victory in their approach to Miranda rights for terror suspects, endorsing their interpretation of the public safety exception.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy G. Edmunds ruled that the government could use statements that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly made before he was advised of his Miranda rights in his upcoming trial.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Feds Built Their Own Underwear Bomb For Abdulmutallab Case

Ryan J. Reilly | September 12, 2011, 2:10PM

The underwear bomb allegedly worn by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

An expert witness for the federal government in the case against alleged "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has constructed a version of the bomb the Nigerian 24-year-old allegedly tried to set off on a plane en route to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

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Kevin Harpham

FBI Didn't Tell MLK Day Bomb Suspect Why He Was Under Arrest

Ryan J. Reilly | July 27, 2011, 12:30PM

Kevin William Harpham (Photo courtesy of KXLY.)

FBI agents wanted to gain the trust of Kevin Harpham, the man suspected of planted a bomb at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, so they didn't give him his Miranda rights for hours after he was arrested.

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Miranda rights

New Guidance Allows FBI To Delay Reading Miranda Rights To Terror Suspects

Ryan J. Reilly | March 24, 2011, 11:52AM

FBI Director Robert Mueller

For the first time since the Justice Department relaxed the requirements in December on when federal law enforcement have to inform terrorism suspects of their Miranda rights, a reporter has seen a copy of the guidance issued by Attorney General Eric Holder and reports it gives FBI agents more latitude and flexibility in delaying informing suspects of their right to remain silent.

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Department of Justice

Effort To 'Modernize' Miranda Looks Dead, But DOJ Wouldn't Release New 'Guidance'

Ryan J. Reilly | January 21, 2011, 12:15PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Nine months after it was first floated by the Obama administration, a plan to "modernize" Miranda rights doesn't seem to be going anywhere in the legislative branch. But Attorney General Eric Holder issued a guidance a few months ago that the Justice Department says sets no specific time limit on the so-called public safety exception.

The Justice Department has indicated that the guidance, which is still not public, takes care of most of the issues about which they were concerned without any input from Congress or the courts.

"While law enforcement has been employing this practice for some time - including during the Dec. 25 attempted bombing, we wanted to make clear this guidance and undertook process to refine it and once that process was complete - sent it out," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd told TPM.

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Miranda rights

Republican Darrell Issa, Champion Of Miranda Rights? (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 17, 2010, 5:02PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

In an appearance on Bill Maher's show Friday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who has previously slammed President Obama for coddling terrorists, emerged as an unlikely and eloquent defender of preserving Miranda rights, speaking out strongly against Attorney General Eric Holder's proposal to loosen the rule.

Issa, one of the Obama Administration's most persistent critics, has criticized the president for, in the words of a February Chicago Sun-Times column by Issa, "the administration's decisions to treat terrorist detainees like common criminals."

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Miranda rights

Axelrod: Obama 'Open To' Changing Miranda Rule (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 11, 2010, 9:50AM

David Axelrod

President Obama is open to changing the decades-old Miranda rule that bars prosecutors from using information from interrogations of suspects before they are informed of their right to remain silent, top White House political adviser David Axelrod told CNN Monday night.

"I think the president is open to looking at that issue," Axelrod told Wolf Blitzer. "The question is whether the public safety exception that allows a delay in administering those rights is -- how elastic is that and do we need to make any sort of adjustment to it."

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Miranda rights

Holder: Obama Admin Seeks Changes To Miranda Rule (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 9, 2010, 6:29PM

President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder

Appearing on the Sunday shows for the first time today, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama Administration wants to change the Miranda rule -- the requirement that police inform suspects of their right to remain silent and to a lawyer before interrogation -- in terrorism cases to "something that is flexible and is more consistent with the threat that we now face."

Holder said on Meet The Press that the Administration wants to work with Congress to make the public safety exception to Miranda -- in which information from questioning before reading the Miranda warning can be admitted in court, in certain situations in which public safety is a concern -- "more flexible."

As TPMmuckraker reported Friday, experts believe the Administration is already pioneering a robust use of the public safety exception to Miranda. In the case of Faisal Shahzad, the man who allegedly tried to set off a crude bomb in Times Square, FBI agents reportedly questioned him for three or four hours before reading him his rights. Much more on the back story here.

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Obama Administration

Experts: Obama Admin Pioneering Robust Use Of Miranda Exception In Terrorism Cases (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 7, 2010, 5:52PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

The Obama Administration is applying an old exception to the Miranda rule in a new way in order to interrogate terrorism suspects before reading them their rights, several experts tell TPMmuckraker, finding what one law professor calls a "middle ground" between those who want suspects put through the criminal justice system and those who believe they should be classified as "enemy combatants."

Federal agents questioned both Faisal Shahzad, the man accused of planting a makeshift bomb in Times Square, and Umar Abdulmutallab, the failed Christmas Day bomber, under the so-called public safety exception to the Miranda rule for substantial periods before informing the men of their right to remain silent, and to an attorney.

Information gleaned during questioning under the public safety exception -- in which police "ask questions reasonably prompted by a concern for the public safety," according to the 1984 Supreme Court case that recognized the exception -- is admissible at trial.

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Meet The Press

Maddow Calls Out GOP Rep For Flubbing Facts Of Abdulmutallab Case (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 15, 2010, 8:59AM

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL).

On Meet The Press yesterday, Rachel Maddow challenged Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) on the issue of the Miranda warning read to the attempted Christmas bombing suspect, correcting Schock's assertion that Abdulmutallab stopped talking after he was read his rights.

"What's the basis of the assertion that reading someone their Miranda rights in unsafe? We did that with every single person who's been arrested on terrorism charges since 9/11," Maddow said.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Leahy And Feinstein: Try Terrorists In Federal Courts

Justin Elliott | February 11, 2010, 2:41PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

More than a month after Republicans started attacking President Obama for prosecuting the attempted Christmas bombing suspect in federal court, two top Senate Dems have finally come out to back Obama in strong terms.

Patrick Leahy and Diane Feinstein, chairs of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, respectively, write in a letter to the president today that federal criminal courts -- not military commissions -- should be used to prosecute terrorists.

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Miranda rights

Overlooked On Newt-Stewart Exchange: Is Gingrich Confused About The Law?

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 5:59PM

Newt Gingrich and Jon Stewart

As long as it's Miranda day around here: there's something in danger of being lost in all the chuckling today over Newt Gingrich's misidentification of shoebomber Richard Reid as an American citizen.

The fact is, non-citizens have the same rights under the U.S. criminal justice system as citizens. Non-citizens must be read their Miranda rights before so-called "custodial interrogation" by the police, just like anyone else.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

The Obama-GOP Miranda Showdown: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 11:12AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan (inset)

On close scrutiny, this week's intense debate over Miranda rights for Umar Abdulmutallab -- culminating in GOP calls for a top Obama aide to resign -- largely falls apart.

The key point of dispute -- whether four Republican leaders should have assumed that the Christmas bombing suspect had been Mirandized after a phone call from Obama aide John Brennan, in which the GOPers were told that Abdulmutallab was in FBI custody -- is moot in light of the facts of the case.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Cheney, Ridge Pioneered Miranda Attack On Obama

Justin Elliott | February 9, 2010, 3:43PM

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Former Vice President Dick Cheney

It turns out that the criticism surrounding the decision to read Miranda rights to the attempted Christmas bombing suspect didn't originally come from any office-holding Republican.

Rather, it was pioneered by Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney in the days after Christmas, and only later picked up by members of Congress like Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).

With the heated Obama-GOP back-and-forth this week over the Mirandizing of Umar Abdulmutallab, we decided to look back at the facts of what happened, and when critics pounced on the issue.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Top Republicans Don't Dispute They Were Told Xmas Bomber Was Held By FBI

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 4:02PM

National Security Adviser John Brennan with (clockwise from top left) Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

There's a key point in danger of being lost in all the he-said-he-said froth over what Congressional Republicans were told in the hours after the failed Christmas attack: none of the GOP leaders disputes that an Obama aide informed them that suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was being held in FBI custody.

The real dispute is over what flows from that fact. John Brennan, Obama's national security adviser, said on Meet The Press Sunday that he called four Republicans -- Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kit Bond and Reps. John Boehner and Pete Hoekstra -- the night of the attempted Christmas attack.

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