A retired Green Beret colonel who once led in the search for deserter Bowe Bergdahl now leads a new search in connection with the “dirty rotten traitor” — for justice.
In Oct. 2017, former U.S. Army Sgt. Bergdahl had pled guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after he had abandoned his post while serving in Afghanistan in 2009. Having already gotten off with time served, the former soldier had his conviction vacated this week spurring members of Congress to demand a new trial.
Led by retired colonel Rep. Michael Waltz (FL), GOP Reps. GOP Reps. Dan Crenshaw (TX), Jake Ellzey (TX), Guy Reschenthaler (PA) and Ryan Zinke (MT) submitted a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Attorney General Merrick Garland Friday on behalf of soldiers who were killed in the search for Bergdahl.
“In consultation with the Department of Justice, we urge you to examine the options to order a new trial as expeditiously as possible,” the letter said. “This outcome dishonors those who served and died alongside Bergdahl, and by omission condoning such behavior, puts the lives of future American soldiers in peril.”
As previously reported, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton had ruled Tuesday to vacate the conviction over a possible conflict of interest from presiding Judge Jeffrey Nance. Former President Donald Trump had been outspoken in his criticism of Bergdahl during his first bid for the White House and Nance had failed to disclose at the time that he had sought a position in the administration as an immigration judge.
U.S. Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl’s convictions THROWN OUT by federal judge https://t.co/akkQgf2Bpp pic.twitter.com/TP2XOAndUP
— BizPac Review (@BIZPACReview) July 29, 2023
Speaking with the New York Post, Waltz remarked, “I was a leader in the search for Bowe Bergdahl after he deserted his post and we subsequently lost men looking for him. Not only did we lose brave service members, but then-President Obama also traded five terrorists in exchange for his release.”
In the congressional letter to the DOJ and Austin, the lawmakers, four of whom served in the U.S. Navy, reminded that Nance had also been responsible for sentencing Bergdahl “to time served, overriding Army recommendations and allowing him to leave the courtroom a free man.”
“This is a deeply concerning lapse of justice and one of a pattern of disturbing efforts to whitewash and even celebrate the exchange of Bergdahl for terrorists,” they wrote. “After a Rose Garden ceremony on May 31, 2014, inconceivably held to celebrate Bergdahl’s return, President Obama’s national security advisor Susan Rice said he had served ‘with honor and distinction.'”
The letter noted estimates of “as many as eight Americans died” in the search for the then-sergeant at the time of his desertion and because of vulnerabilities that search created in defending outposts. As Waltz told the Post, “The families of the fallen deserve justice and we can’t allow a legal technicality to wipe the record clean for a traitor who pled guilty to desertion. We are demanding the Pentagon appeal this decision and retry the case.”
Due to the nature of the case, having been tried in military court but overturned in a civil court, were President Joe Biden’s administration to acquiesce to the request from the congressmen, it remains unclear what path forward would be taken.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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