House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) has asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to testify on the controversial prisoner trade that freed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“I am particularly troubled by the release of five senior Taliban leaders, men with the blood of many on their hands, and the implications for our deployed forces,” McKeon said in a statement Tuesday. “I am no less concerned that the Obama Administration broke a national security law, passed with bipartisan support and signed by the President, in transferring these detainees.
{mosads}”I am eager to receive answers on both counts,” he added, inviting Hagel to appear before the panel on June 11.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday endorsed the idea of a congressional investigation into the prisoner swap.
“The administration has invited serious questions into how this exchange went down and the calculations the White House and relevant agencies made in moving forward without consulting Congress,” Boehner said in a statement.
The swap has been criticized by some members of Congress, who say the decision to transfer five detainees from Guantánamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl’s release was a negotiation with terrorists.