guatanamo opened in 2002 on the u.s. naval base in cuba, which allowed prisoners from afghanistan and elsewhere to be held without charges or trials. there, but today, 91 remain. margaret brennan is at the white house. >> the politics of this are tough. >> reporter: tough politics because the president's proposal involves bringing nearly 60 guatanamo prisoners to the united states. >> we're already holding a bunch of really dangerous terrorists here in the united states because we threw the book at them, and there have been no incidents. >> reporter: of the 91 prisoners remaining at guatanamo, 35 would be transferred to other countries, 46 held in the u.s. under military guard, and at least 10 would face trial in criminal or military courts. that includes so-called 9/11 mastermind sheikh mohamed, who has never been convicted during his 13 years in u.s. custody. pentagon officials have looked at more than 13 locations in the u.s. for housing the prisoners, including the naval brig in south carolina, a supermax military pr

but in 2011, congress made it illegal to transfer guatanamo inmates to the u.s. and republicans in congress are almost universally opposed to changing that law. kansas senator pat roberts made his opinion clear today. >> this is what i think of the president's plan to send terrorists to the united states. >> reporter: so did colorado republican congressman mike coffman. >> he knows that in fact the will of congress is not going to change, that we are not going to amend existing law, that would in fact allow these detainees to come to u.s. soil. >> reporter: president obama said that closing guatanamo will of dollars and, scott, the white house today would not rule out taking executive action to shutter the prison if congress does not act. >> pelley: margaret, thanks. now, margaret just mentioned khalid sheikh mohamed, charged with planning 9/11. he was captured by u.s. forces in pakistan in 2003, and for the most part he's been at guatanamo bay since. his case is in a military court there. lawyers have filed more than 200 motions, many of them claiming abuse and

. >> reporter: of the 91 prisoners remaining at guatanamo, 35 would be transferred to other countries, 46 held in the u.s. under military guard, and at least 10 would face trial ins. criminal or military courts. that includes so-called 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohamed, who has never been convicted during his 13 years in u.s. custody. pentagon officials have looked at more than 13 locations in the u.s. for housing the prisoners, including the naval brig in south carolina, a supermax prison in colorado, and the military prison in leavenworth, kansas. but in 2011, congress made it illegal to transfer guantanamo inmates to the u.s. and republicans in congress are almost universally opposed to changing that law. kansas senator pat roberts made his opinion clear today. president's plan to send terrorists to the united states. >> reporter: so did colorado republican congressman mike coffman. >> he knows that, in fact, the will of congress is not going to change, that we are not going to amend existing law, that would in fact allow these detainees to come to u.s. soil. o >> reporter: pre