Good one... no they were not.
Congress was consulted - and said no, long ago. Supposedly this “deal” was in the works for three years.
Obviously, somebody got word that Bambi was going to do it anyway, because then a bill was passed (with bipartisan support) requiring Obama to consult and give 30 days advance notice for review purposes before any prisoners were released from Guantanamo. This is the law that he just ignored, simply going ahead and doing exactly what Congress had told him not to do...and doing it on a weekend so that they wouldn’t be in session to react.
Sure, he consulted with them...and ignored everything they told him.