Waltz Demands Retrial for Deserter Bowe Bergdahl

At the end of July, Representatives Mike Waltz (R-FL), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), and Jake Ellzey (R-TX) demanded a retrial for American deserter Bowe Bergdahl. Additionally, Rep. Waltz wrote an op-ed for Fox News explaining the demand further, calling Bergdahl a "traitor" who "continues to defy justice."

In 2009, Bergdahl deserted his post in Afghanistan, where he was captured by the Taliban and held for five years. He was eventually released in 2014 after the Obama Administration exchanged five Taliban prisoners for Bergdahl, whose subsequent 2017 court-martial resulted in a conviction.

However, Bergdahl served no jail time, which Rep. Waltz's letter called "a deeply concerning lapse of justice and one of a pattern of disturbing efforts to whitewash and even celebrate the exchange of Bergdahl for terrorists," and at the end of July 2023, his conviction was vacated.

According to Military.com, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Reggie Walton ruled the officer presiding over Bergdahl's court-martial, Colonel Jeffery Nance, apparently did not disclose he was seeking a position in the Trump Administration as an immigration judge, which was cited as a conflict of interest. However, Col. Nance was the same judge who gave Bergdahl such a light sentence, to begin with.

"For the appellate judge to claim the military judge showed undue bias when Bergdahl was given no jail time defies logic," wrote Waltz in his op-ed, adding, "The irony is that the military judge received significant public criticism, including by me, for giving Bergdahl such a lenient sentence."

However, Waltz remained pessimistic about the Biden Administration considering a retrial, not only because many members worked under the Obama Administration, but they also "have every political interest in allowing the case to fade away as we head into an election year."

"But the cold hard reality," Waltz concluded, "is Bergdahl’s desertion cost American lives, disrupted critical military operations, and saw five dangerous Taliban leaders freed in return for his release. The veteran community will not forget Bergdahl’s betrayal and on behalf of the wounded, the Gold Star families, and the Afghans once again being brutalized by those Taliban leaders, we will not allow this case to be swept under the rug. That starts by appealing for a retrial for this traitor."