Times Square bombing arrest allows GOP to revive 'Miranda' debate
By Paul Kane, Shailagh Murray and Matt DeLong
After the news late Monday that federal authorities arrested Faisal Shahzad in connection with Saturday's botched car bombing in New York's Times Square, congressional Republicans wasted no time in reviving the debate on whether to read Miranda rights to a terror suspect. The Miranda issue rose to prominence in the aftermath of the failed attempt to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day. It was reported that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, stopped providing information after he was read his rights following 50 minutes of interrogation.
In remarks Tuesday morning, President Obama did not say when Shahzad was read his Miranda rights. In a news conference at the Justice Department, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said Shahzad was initially interrogated by the FBI under the "public safety exception to the Miranda rule" and provided "valuable" intelligence and evidence. Pistole said Shahzad was later Mirandized and "continued to cooperate and provide valuable information." Pistole declined to say how long Shahzad was in custody before he was Mirandized.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), appearing on Don Imus's morning talk show, came out hard against affording Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen, his constitutional rights.
"Obviously that would be a serious mistake ... at least until we find out as much information we have," McCain said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan, should be given his constitutional rights.
"Don't give this guy his Miranda rights until we find out what it's all about," McCain added.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), told Politico that Holder should make the decision in consultation with intelligence officials.
"I hope that [Attorney General Eric] Holder did discuss this with the intelligence community. If they believe they got enough from him, how much more should they get? Did they Mirandize him? I know he's an American citizen but still," King told Politico.
"I hope that if they did read him his rights and if they are going for an indictment as opposed to a tribunal that he did discuss it with the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, all the component parts of the intelligence community," King said.
"If someone acts like a terrorist and cooperates with people intent on war against the United States, they should be treated as terrorists and not as a common criminal. And no, they should not be read their Miranda rights," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who along with McCain is senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee.
While not specifically referring to Miranda rights, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) alluded to the issue on the Senate floor.
"Hopefully the appropriate officials are using this opportunity to exploit as much intelligence as he may have about his overseas connections and any other plots against Americans either here or abroad."
Meanwhile, conservative firebrand talk show host Glenn Beck came out in favor of reading Shahzad his Miranda rights.
"He is a citizen of the United States, so I say we uphold the laws and the Constitution on citizens," the bombastic Fox News host said to the stunned co-hosts of "Fox and Friends". "If you are a citizen, you obey the law and follow the Constitution. [Shahzad] has all the rights under the Constitution."
"We don't shred the Constitution when it is popular," Beck added. "We do the right thing."
Democrats agreed.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, suggested that the FBI had done "one heck of a job" so far, emphasizing the need to move Shahzad through the U.S. court system to secure a guilty verdict. "Since he's arrested here in the United States, he's an American citizen, he's going to be entitled to the same rights that other American citizens have. So, you want to make sure you can try and convict this guy, and if you don't do it right, you can mess up your own trial and conviction. So you've got to do it right. Otherwise you're working against yourself, whatever the rights are, including the Miranda warning," Levin said.
"This is a U.S. citizen, arrested on U.S. soil, subject to the constitutional protections and constraints of every U.S. citizen. ... I think it's pretty well-settled law," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), appearing on Fox News, suggested changing the law to strip the citizenship -- and in turn the rights afforded by the Constitution -- from any American who becomes involved with terrorism.
I think it's time for us to look at whether we want to amend that law to apply it to American citizens who choose to become affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, whether they should not also be deprived automatically of their citizenship, and therefore be deprived of rights that come with that citizenship when they are apprehended and charged with a terrorist act.
Florida Senate GOP candidate Marco Rubio said he was unsure if Shahzad should be Mirandized.
"It all depends on how they're going to try him," Rubio said when asked if the suspect deserced to be read his rights. "If this individual has information that could help us prevent future attacks and loss of life, nothing should stand in the way of that, including Miranda [rights]."
And former New York Gov. George Pataki (R), rumored to be weighing a presidential bid in 2012, declined to call Shahzad's apprehension a success.
"I don't think you call it victory. I think victory would be being able to prevent these before they get to that point where you have a loaded van in Times Square," he said. "I think it's more a question of lucky. The fact that the van started to smoke and we had a courageous individual who went out and notified the police and then we have a great police and fire department that reacted brilliantly."
