Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years and freed in an exchange for five Taliban prisoners, has asked President Obama to pardon him before leaving the White House.
A source told Fox News that Bergdahl wrote a letter to Obama thanking him for rescuing him in 2014 and trading him for the Guantanamo Bay detainees.
{mosads}White House and Justice Department officials also told the New York Times that Bergdahl submitted several copies of a clemency application that were sent to the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the White House immediately after the election.
The pardon would avert Bergdahl’s court-martial trial, which is slated to begin in April. He faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, endangering fellow soldiers.
President-elect Donald Trump was highly critical of Bergdahl on the campaign trail, calling him a “dirty, rotten traitor” who “should have been executed.”