Remember Bowe Bergdahl?
Republicans collectively lost their shit last year when the Obama administration chose to make a prisoner exchange for Bergdahl who was captured and held for five years after leaving his base of operations in Afghanistan. Some conservative pundits called for leaving him to die while others branded him a traitor who allegedly aided the enemy.
The Pentagon is currently considering how Bergdahl will be charged or if he will be punished for dissertation but, if they don't lock him away, Senator John McCain says he will launch his own investigation immediately.
“If it comes out that he has no punishment, we’re going to have to have a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee,” said McCain, who chairs the committee. “And I am not prejudging, OK, but it is well known that in the searches for Bergdahl, after — we know now — he deserted, there are allegations that some American soldiers were killed or wounded, or at the very least put their lives in danger, searching for what is clearly a deserter. We need to have a hearing on that.”
John McCain isn't "prejudging" except, obviously, he is.
While the Army continues to deliberate, if they prescribe a punishment that does not meet John McCain's standards, he says he'll immediately launch another witch hunt.
It's entirely possible the Pentagon knows things John McCain doesn't know, and it's possible John McCain doesn't actually know what he thinks he knows, but he will get to the bottom of it, he assures us.
Should that happen, Bergdahl’s attorney Eugene R. Fidell promised last night his defense team will launch an investigation of its own into McCain’s actions.
“Sen. McCain’s comments are deeply disturbing and constitute unlawful congressional influence in a sensitive pending military justice matter,” Fidell said. “This is particularly troubling because he is chairman of the committee that confirms all military promotions, as well as all nominations to the highest uniformed and civilian positions in the Army.
What Bergdahl's attorney will not say but I will say is McCain's comments are disturbing for a man who was also once a prisoner of war.