President Obama blames Congress for failure to close Guantanamo, doubts Trump

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In his first post-election news conference on 14 November, US President Barack Obama addressed one of the issues that have plagued him throughout his eight-year presidency – the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

"It is true that I have not been able to close the darn thing," the president said, referring to his 2008 campaign promise to shut down the facility. However, he pointed out that his administration managed to reduce the number of inmates held at the facility "significantly" and informed that in the final two months of his tenure, he plans to transfer more of them out of the Cuba-based prison and into facilities on US soil. "We'd do it a lot cheaper. And just as safely," he explained.

Despite the president's continued efforts to close down the prison, his proposals have been aggressively opposed by Congress and the 55-year-old blamed "congressional restrictions" for his failure to keep his election promise. "Congress disagrees with me, and I gather the president-elect does as well."

Donald Trump raised concerns over the future of the offshore detention centre after he said that it would be "fine" to try Americans suspected of terrorism at Guantanamo Bay.

"I know that they want to try them in our regular court systems, and I don't like that at all. I don't like that at all," Trump told the Miami Herald in a wide-ranging interview. "I would say they could be tried there, that would be fine."

This week Obama is set to make his last overseas trips as US president and will visit Greece, Germany and Peru to deal with a number of issues – in particular the future of the US under Trump. "In my conversation with the president-elect he expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships and so one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to Nato and the Trans-Atlantic Alliance," he said during the press event.