Bowe Bergdahl deal finalized a day before swap, senator says
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration only finalized the exchange of the last remaining U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo a day before the June 1 swap, a top Democratic lawmaker said Tuesday. He said American officials didn't learn the pickup location for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl until an hour ahead of time.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2-ranked Democrat, presented the timeline as an explanation for why President Barack Obama didn't inform Congress 30 days before the deal. Republicans and some Democrats have sharply criticized the president for failing to notify them and claim he broke the law. Obama says he acted legally.
"They knew a day ahead of time the transfer was going to take place," Durbin told reporters in the Capitol, where military officials briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee behind closed doors. "They knew an hour ahead of time where it was going to take place."
The administration has also pointed to Bergdahl's health and the threat that he might be killed if news of the exchange was leaked as reasons for the hurried exchange that precluded Congressional notification. The other explanations have done little to quell bipartisan frustration with how the prisoner swap was handled.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the briefers from the Pentagon "were not clear" and did not justify the swap publicly or privately.
Two other lawmakers in the briefing, Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Joe Manchin, D-W.V., both said there was no information to convince them that Bergdahl's life was in imminent danger.
The lack of notification remains an issue for other members. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that he was briefed "multiple times" in the six months leading up to the U.S. operation that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as a "heads up" days before it happened.
"This idea that they couldn't trust us not to leak things is just not true," Boehner said.
He also said that he was never briefed about the prospect of swapping five Guantanamo detainees for one American soldier, or which detainees would be traded. Boehner indicated he would have expressed serious concerns, as other members of Congress did.
"The biggest issue here is the violation of a policy that the United States has had for many, many years that we don't negotiate with terrorists," Boehner said. "We have violated that policy and as a result we've made Americans less safe here and all around the world, and we're going to pay for this. There is not any doubt in my mind there are going to be costs...lost lives associated with what came out of this."
The Senate Armed Services Committee briefing came as a House panel overwhelmingly backed a measure barring U.S. funds for the transfer of detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid the congressional outcry over the swap.
On a bipartisan 33-13 vote, the Appropriations Committee added the provision to a $570 billion defense spending bill that blocks money if the administration fails to notify Congress within 30 days of a transfer from Guantanamo as required by law.
"The violation of trust between the department and Congress to use funds in violation of current law cannot be easily overlooked," Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the defense subcommittee, said in a description of the amendment.
The measure also bars 85 percent of the money in the account for overseas conflicts until the defense secretary reassures Congress that no money will be spent to violate current law requiring congressional notification.
The measure captured the congressional anger among Republicans and many Democrats over Obama's failure to notify lawmakers in advance about the exchange. Particularly galling for lawmakers was one detail that emerged in the closed-door briefing Monday night with administration officials - 80-90 members of the government knew of the swap in advance but not a single member of Congress.
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the Appropriations panel, said the administration went ahead with no respect for the law and the Congress "and now sort of waving a thumb at us."
The full House is expected to debate the defense bill next week.