Bowe Bergdahl Has Desertion Conviction Vacated By Judge

Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier who was captured in Afghanistan and later traded for five Taliban leaders in a prisoner exchange, has had his desertion conviction vacated after a federal judge said the original case could have been clouded by a conflict of interest. 

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton vacated the desertion conviction for Bergdahl this week. Under President Barack Obama, Bergdahl was traded for five Taliban leaders who had been detained in Guantanamo Bay. 

According to Walton, because military judge Jeffrey Nance did not disclose his application to be an immigration judge under then-President Donald Trump, Nance’s presiding over Bergdahl’s trial could be construed as a conflict of interest because Trump had been vocally critical of Bergdahl. 

The judge said that Nance’s neutrality was “undermined” because “he might be inclined to appeal to the president’s expressed interest in the plaintiff’s conviction and punishment when applying for the immigration judge position.” 

“Namely, the military judge in this case submitted a writing sample along with his application, consisting of an order in which he denied the plaintiff’s [Bergdahl] unlawful-command-influence motion which was based on President Trump’s statements, and ruled against the plaintiff — both actions that a reasonable person might view as serving the president’s interest in this case,” Walton’s ruling said. 

Bergdahl was imprisoned and tortured by the Taliban for five years after walking away from his post in 2009. He said that he was going to report poor leadership in his unit, according to the Associated Press. 

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After the Obama administration negotiated for a trade with the Taliban, Bergdahl returned to the U.S. where he was tried and pled guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Bergdahl escaped jail time but was made to forfeit $10,000 in pay and was dishonorably discharged. 

While campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump called Bergdahl a “dirty rotten traitor.” Trump also said that Bergdahl’s sentence was not strong enough, saying that it was “a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military.”

Four of the five Taliban members released in exchange for Bergdahl joined the Taliban’s hardline government in Afghanistan after the group took over in the fall of 2021. 

‘We Know You’ve Lied’: Wyoming GOP Rep Blisters DHS Sec Mayorkas On Immigration

Wyoming’s GOP congresswoman absolutely blistered Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, slamming him for allegedly lying to the American people.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, who replaced GOP Rep. Liz Cheney in Congress, minced no words, calling Mayorkas the kind of tyrant that the American Founding Founders warned about.

“Mr. Mayorkas, I actually really want to thank you, as well, for coming here today for your performance. I have watched with absolute fascination as you have danced and dodged and lied, yes, lied,” she began.

“We know you’ve lied,” she declared. “You know you’ve lied. But more importantly the American public knows you lied throughout your testimony today.  And yet you believe that you and your fellow architects of the censorship industrial complex think that you should be able to determine what is and isn’t true, and what is and isn’t untrue.”

“You are the walking, talking, epitome of the very tyrant that our forefathers recognized would gravitate towards government service,” she declaimed. “And it’s because of people like you that they drafted the First Amendment.”

“I thank them for their foresight; I thank them for recognizing that you and people like you would do everything in your power to control speech, to control freedom, to take away our rights,” she said. “And they’ve written a document that isn’t going to allow you to do that. Fortunately we still have courts and judges who recognize that you don’t have the power that you are attempting to take; that you do not have the right to limit our freedom of speech, our freedom of association, our right to communicate.”

“Thank God we have the First Amendment so we can stop you from doing what you’ve been doing,” she concluded.

Isn’t it ironic that the person in charge of the Biden ‘mis and mal information’ agency spent the day lying to Congress? Secretary Mayorkas has failed the American people and it’s time for him to resign or be removed from his position. pic.twitter.com/U0mACpWU0l

— Rep. Harriet Hageman (@RepHageman) July 26, 2023

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) blasted Mayorkas for claiming that the U.S. had operational control of the border, saying that Mayorkas had made the dubious border claims as part of “a perpetual pattern, and the fact is, there are real people that are impacted by that.”

It is beyond question that the Secretary lied to us under oath last year – it was purposeful. #EndBorderTraffickingNow https://t.co/d1FLAVatBq

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) July 26, 2023

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who lacerated Mayorkas for his agency deciding what is true and false, pointed out that a court had found that DHS made no distinction between domestic speech and foreign speech when attempting to quash discourse.

Secretary Mayorkas’s policies have created agencies that colluded and coerced social media companies to censor American speech online.

WATCH: @RepMikeJohnson schools Mayorkas on the First Amendment. pic.twitter.com/zHAj6iuAF7

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 26, 2023

Johnson later fired, “I’ve only got 25 seconds. I don’t have time for a question because you’ll be elusive but since we’re stating things for the record, I’ve been in Congress for seven years. I think you are the most dishonest witness that has ever appeared before the Judiciary Committee.”

Secretary Mayorkas is the MOST DISHONEST witness to sit before the Judiciary Committee in my 7 years in Congress.

He is personally responsible for the open border catastrophe, skyrocketing fentanyl deaths, and the human trafficking crisis — & the American people DESERVE answers. pic.twitter.com/6fTnlHNnFG

— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) July 26, 2023

Johnson was not alone; Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs had a few words to say about Mayorkas:

I’m sick of Mayorkas’s lies. https://t.co/YmtZ4x4IXB

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) July 26, 2023

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