Trump: Bergdahl sentencing decision ‘a complete and total disgrace’
President Trump on Friday decried a judge’s decision not to give prison time to Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdal as “a complete and total disgrace.”
“The decision on Sergeant Bergdahl is a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military,” the president tweeted.
Trump weighed in while flying on Air Force One to Asia.
{mosads}He tweeted soon after the military judge, Army Col. Jeffrey Nance, ruled Bergdahl should be dishonorably discharged and fined $1,000 per month for 10 months.
Bergdahl pleaded guilty to walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was later captured by the Taliban.
Former President Obama secured his release in 2014 in a controversial prison swap with the Afghan militant group.
The decision sparked a political firestorm that Trump fueled during the 2016 presidential race.
In March 2015, before Trump officially announced his candidacy, he said Bergdahl should be executed.
“Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should face the death penalty for desertion — five brave soldiers died trying to bring him back. U.S. has to get tough!” he tweeted.
He repeated those calls as a candidate.
Bergdahl faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Nance ruled Bergdahl could receive a fair trial despite Trump’s comments, but said he would consider them as a mitigating factor in sentencing.
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