Sen. Graham, White House Talks on Gitmo Worrying Some Republicans

Sen. Lindsey Graham's private conversations with the Obama administration on closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are making some of Graham's fellow Republicans nervous.

Graham (R-S.C.) has been involved in meetings and phone calls with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel over the past several weeks discussing his conditions for supporting a shutdown of the prison, the Hill newspaper reported Thursday. Graham wants assurances that it would not hurt national security, and he favors setting up a new national security court where most of the remaining detainees could be tried.

But Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the House intelligence committee, said Graham should leave a central issue in any shutdown -- where the prisoners would be moved -- to state and local authorities with jurisdiction over the facilities seen as potential sites. "I think it is crazy to be negotiating with the White House on this," Hoesktra said. Graham, he added, didn't want Gitmo detainees in South Carolina when such a move was considered.

Rep. Don Manzullo, a Republican representing a district that includes a prison in Thomson, Ill. -- one possible relocation facility -- said he hoped Graham "would talk to me first" if he is involved in any talks about moving terror suspects to Illinois.

Graham, architect of legislation creating military commissions and an advocate of prosecuting accused terrorists in miiltary courts, is expected to meet with Manzullo this week, Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop said.