Bowe Bergdahl, Called a ‘Traitor’ by President Trump, Pleads Guilty
General Dahl — now a lieutenant general — also testified
that he found Sergeant Bergdahl to be truthful, albeit naïve and delusional, and that jailing the sergeant would be “inappropriate.”
Sergeant Bergdahl’s defense team later argued that Mr. Trump’s comments made a fair trial impossible, since everyone who could play a role in deciding his fate — including prosecutors, the judge
and the general who controls the case — now ultimately reports to Mr. Trump as commander-in-chief.
They include rulings by Colonel Nance to allow the case to go forward despite inflammatory statements on the campaign trail by President Trump,
and to allow prosecutors to introduce evidence of grievous injuries suffered by service members who, the judge ruled, were searching for the sergeant at the time.
Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off his base in eastern Afghanistan in 2009, setting off a huge military manhunt
and a political furor, pleaded guilty on Monday to desertion and to endangering the American troops sent to search for him.
The desertion charge carries a potential five-year sentence,
and the charge of endangering troops — formally known as misbehavior before the enemy — carries a potential life sentence.