STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Some of these guys after they're released from Gitmo want to stay there because it's so much better than it is back where they want to send them. You returned from Gitmo.
PETE HEGSETH: Yeah, I was there as a guard in 2004 and 2005. When we saw the president was going to release his plan, we felt like hey, why don't we go and take a look at the real Gitmo. Let's get a sense of what really goes on down there. A lot of people have a caricature about Guantanamo Bay. What's the ground truth? So, we went down there a couple of weeks ago to take a look.
[...]
HEGSETH: Nearly 700 detainees have been released since 2002. The percentage of those who return to the battlefield, upwards of 30 percent.
[...]
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): We keep hearing how expensive it is. $450 million? I don't get it. Why does it cost that much?
HEGSETH: Well, you've got to staff these facilities. It is a full-time naval station. It's actually not that expensive if you look at what it would take to transport, house, try in the United States. It's very efficient. Remember, we lease this land from Cuba for $2,000 a year, and they don't even cash the check. It's the cheapest land you could find anywhere.
KILMEADE: There was as many as 600 there. Now there's 91. Does the place look cavernous?
HEGSETH: It doesn't look cavernous. I mean, they've got the ability to shrink or expand. I'm telling you, this is a top-notch facility that's very well run. And when I asked them is it better than the supermaxes in the United States, one of the commanders said absolutely, it's the best prison I've ever seen.
ANNA KOOIMAN (CO-HOST): Well, with the recidivism rate being 30 percent and more suspected of returning to the battlefield, then that doesn't make me very comfortable that the president wants to close it.
HEGSETH: It doesn't make a lot of Americans comfortable.
