“No-good” traitor Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should have been executed for deserting his unit in Afghanistan in 2009, said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday.
“We’re tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who’s a traitor, a no-good traitor,” Trump said.
Trump delivered his remarks at a Las Vegas theater in the hotel Treasure Island. The theater is normally used for Cirque du Soleil events.
The crowd of around 1,620 cheered after Trump said that if Bergdahl had deserted 30 years ago, he lwould’ve been shot, The Associated Press reports.
But Bergdahl was not the point of the speech, despite receiving an off-hand mention.
That mention attracted the attention of Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl’s attorney, who said that Trump was nothing more than a “broken record on this subject.” Fidell added that if Trump took the time to look at the findings of the preliminary hearing, he would change his mind.
The White House was able to acquire Bergdahl last year in exchange for five senior Taliban commanders, who were held at Guantanamo Bay. A Government Accountability Report later found that the White House had broken the law because it conducted the transfer out of Gitmo without providing proper notification to Congress.
In March, Bergdahl was charged with desertion and “misbehavior before the enemy,” a charge rarely used since World War II. Fidell derided the second charge as an unnecessary duplicate of the first. Bergdahl currently faces the possibility of life in prison for putting the lives of soldiers from Observation Post Mest at serious risk. Bergdahl was abruptly leaving was easily picked up by the Taliban. (RELATED: Bergdahl Receives Strange Charge, Could Face Life In Prison)
The Army held a hearing on Bergdahl last month. It’s still possible Bergdahl will receive a court martial, but the Army has kept the answer to that question private for the time being.
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