Gibbs jabs at McCain, GOP for 'affront to law enforcement'

Any suggestions that law enforcement officials aren't doing all they can to gain intelligence are an "affront," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

Responding to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who said it would be a "serious mistake" to read the suspect in an attempted Times Square car bombing his Miranda rights, Gibbs defended the administration's approach in arresting and interrogating Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the case.

"These are decisions that are made in consultation with the intelligence community and highly trained counterterrorism officials, who are no less invested in getting information from an interview or interrogation that is possible," Gibbs said in his daily press briefing.

Any suggestion otherwise, Gibbs said, is "an affront to law enforcement."

Republicans have been critical of Obama administration officials' handling of Shahzad, who was detained and treated as a civilian criminal. The GOP also loudly criticized the decision to Mirandize Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the attempted bombing of a flight on Christmas Day.

Gibbs said that the administration had consistently been consulting with intelligence officials before deciding how to treat Shahzad.