Bergdahl hires an attorney

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has hired Yale Law School professor Eugene Fidell as an attorney, Fidell confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. 

Fidell is a full-time lecturer on military justice and previously served as president of the National Institute of Military Justice. He is currently a partner at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae and Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell, where he serves as counsel.

{mosads}Bergdahl returned to regular duty earlier this week after completing the final phase of his reintegration process after the Taliban held him captive for nearly five years. He has been assigned to Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and will be assigned administrative tasks, officials said.

Fidell said on CNN’s “New Day” that he met with Bergdahl in person in San Antonio last week.

“I was very flattered when I was approached” about representing Bergdahl, he said. He added that they had “no prior relationship.”

Asked how Bergdahl seems, Fidell said, “I’m not going to get into that. I don’t want to insinuate my own views or impressions.”

He also declined to say whether Bergdahl has spoken to his parents. Recent reports have said Bergdahl hasn’t spoken to them. 

Army officials told The Christian Science Monitor that Bergdahl has not yet been advised of his rights or spoken with Army investigators about his 2009 disappearance from his base in Afghanistan.

The Taliban released Bergdahl in late May in exchange for the release of five Taliban prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Bergdahl was captured after leaving his base in Afghanistan.

The Army launched a formal review in mid-June, led by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, into Bergdahl’s disappearance after fellow soldiers accused him of deserting their base in 2009.

Investigators are expected to speak to Bergdahl “sometime in the near future,” Army spokesman Wayne Hall told the Monitor. “At this point, he has done nothing to warrant having his rights read to him.”

Fidell said he spoke with Dahl, the Army general investigating the case, several days ago and Fidell said they had a “cordial conversation.” Fidell said Bergdahl would eventually meet with Dahl.

Fidell has also taught at Harvard Law School and the American University Washington College of Law. From 1969 to 1972, he served as a judge advocate in the Coast Guard. 

— This story was updated at 9:05 a.m.