A guard opens the gate at the entrance to Camp VI, a prison used to house detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Bob Strong

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday it expects additional transfers of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison to be announced before President Barack Obama leaves office on Jan. 20.

“I would expect at this point additional transfers to be announced before January 20,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters when asked about a message on Twitter by President-elect Donald Trump earlier on Tuesday saying “There should be no more releases” from the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Last month a source close to the matter said Obama planned to transfer as many as 18 more prisoners from Guantanamo, nearly a third of the remaining 59 at the facility where the United States has held terrorism suspects since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.