Posted on 06/03/2014 6:39:03 PM PDT by kristinn
The Obama administration has apologized for bypassing Congress before it released senior Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay as part of a controversial prisoner exchange.
The expression of regret was a major shift for the White House, which had previously offered a defiant defense on why it could not adhere to the notification provisions of a 2013 law.
SNIP
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said Monday that Congress knew well in advance that the president might release detainees from Guantanamo in exchange for Bergdahl.
“We’ve been consulting with members of Congress about this effort, including the potential transfer of five Gitmo detainees, for years,” he said. “So this should not have been a surprise to any of the members of Congress who’ve been … commenting about it.”
Other administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, have indicated swift action was needed because of Bergdahl’s deteriorating health.
Over the last several days, the White House has suggested that talks about a possible trade have gone on for years. During a speech in Poland on Tuesday, Obama said his administration “has consulted with Congress for quite some time” on the issue.
However, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) on Tuesday pointed out that lawmakers hadn’t been briefed on a Bergdahl exchange since 2011.
McDonough, meanwhile, struck a more conciliatory tone when he met with Senate Democrats at a Tuesday lunch meeting to discuss their concerns about the deal.
“He was brought to the caucus today to explain the situation with Bergdahl, and he ended his presentation by saying, ‘If anyone has any questions, I’ll be happy to talk to you,’ ” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Horseshit is correct on him not being able to speak English. My mother left Germany in 1950. She went back only twice. Refused to have her children to speak German. That makes 64 years she has not been around Germans and she still speaks and writes German VERY fluently.
There is something far more sinister going on here, again. My opinion is he made the deal with someone some time ago and even admittedly he tried this in 2011 and was shot down. That someone called in their marker and he needed an excuse so he negotiated for them to give up the traitor and deserter as an attempt to have some salient excuse.
Either he made the deal at a drop of the hat or someone was going to unload a giant can of Oh Shit on him and our whole corrupt government establishment.
“What’s amazing to me is that they would send Susan Rice to do this after the Benghazi debacle but it seems the administration thinks people are still gullible enough to believe. lol!”
“People” are just plain stupid. The media, however, does not like to be manipulated. They reserve the right to manipulate people to themselves. This is one of the reasons the Left is turning on the administration. Parading out Rice (AGAIN!) was the political equivalent of Jumping The Shark.
Ok. You really can’t believe your eyes anymore.
There is no telling. You can bet the farm that there is something nefarious going on though.
I’d buy cases of that stuff if it could fall on obungbe. jarrett the lizard queen and queen latifa of moochie are the ones I’d like to see raked over the coals as well. There are many other smarmy freaks that need to be punished though.
If Obama had a white father...he would be like Daddy Bergdahl
“he tried this in 2011 and was shot down. That someone called in their marker and he needed an excuse so he negotiated for them to give up the traitor and deserter as an attempt to have some salient excuse.”
Maybe someone in the middle east has some embarrassing information that could prove troubling to Obama unless he releases the five terrorists?
That’s an obvious fake.
I am shocked he didn’t send that ditz Susan Rice. I have concluded that she is the dumbest person on Earth.....yep the terrorists have more common sense than this thing.
That's a photo shop and we should not peddle it as fact. Freeper Clown made that by lowering his hand. Again,there is enough evil here without manufacturing it.
I strongly agree.
Haha he sure can’t. Bush had them captured. Hussein supports the enemy and I think it suddenly has become painfully obvious to many that were basking in his glow until now. This offends most Americans more than anything that he has done so far. Ordinary Americans get this and understand that this is bad.
I have always thought Hussein was being blackmailed by every other country in the world that knows his true background. It seems logical given everything that he has done against America.
Remember what Eric Nordstrom said in a Congressional hearing Oct 10, 2012 ….”The Taliban is on the inside of the building”
Wow that just chilling. He is right.
I agree. It’s funny but label it as a joke.
Yes, but will they remember this after the next half dozen screwups and scandals? Before Bergdahl, very recently, was the VA scandal. We're not hearing about that. Before VA, when there was talk about a select committee on Benghazi, we heard the drumbeat on income inequality and the need for a living minimum wage. And so on... for the past few years.
The state department is saying the soldiers aren’t credible. They’re going to throw them under the bus.
And that dumb ass drunk sleepy eyed dopey Hagel said he called congress the day after Bergdahl was released. And he seemed to indicate that was good enough. You’d think they would have at least told congress a few days before it went down.
He groped the woman coming out. He got the man’s ass on the way back in.
Here’s a tin foil hat theory for you: what if Bowe is simply a pawn to be “disposed of” by a “right wing gun nut” plant for being a traitor? It could be the Reichstag fire this administration has been desiring.
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