"My expectation is by early next year we should have reduced that population below a hundred," Obama stated. "And we will continue to steadily chip away at the numbers in Guantanamo."
Obama noted that the US administration would prefer to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay via an agreement with Congress rather than by using executive authority.
“I think it is far preferable, if I can get stuff done with Congress,” Obama said. “We will wait until Congress has definitively said ‘no’ to a well-thought-out plan with numbers attached to it, before we say anything definitive about my executive authority here.”
He also said that the White House and the US Congress could agree on reforming the criminal justice system next year.
"That [criminal justice reform] is an area where I think we may be able to make a big difference," Obama said when asked about areas where the White House and Congress could come together in 2016.
Obama applauded bipartisan efforts in the House and Senate as "sincere, serious negotiations…to create a criminal justice system that is more fair, more evenhanded, more proportionate, and is smarter about how we reduce crime."
