The White House on Thursday defended its controversial prisoner exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, one day after the Army announced it would charge him with desertion.
“The commander in chief will not allow a member of the United States armed forces to be left behind,” press secretary Josh Earnest said during an interview with CNN.
{mosads}“It was an important message for this president to deliver to the American people, but also to people all around the world, that the United States and their commander in chief stands squarely behind our men and women in uniform and with the commitment we have made to not leave them behind,” Earnest added.
Obama released five high-ranking Taliban fighters last year from the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba in exchange for Bergdahl, who went missing from his base in 2009 while serving in Afghanistan.
Republicans have criticized the president for giving up too much to get Bergdahl, who has long faced accusations he deserted his unit. Some in the military have said soldiers died searching for Bergdahl, who was taken captive by the Taliban.
The State Department on Wednesday also defended the prisoner swap.
Obama celebrated Bergdahl’s release during a Rose Garden ceremony last June with his parents. The president later said he would make “absolutely no apologies” for exchanging the Taliban fighters for the last U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Earnest would not comment on the desertion charges levied against Bergdahl.
“There’s an ongoing military justice process that’s underway and I don’t want to say anything that might interfere with that investigation or even leave anyone with the appearance of some sort of interference. But that is a process that will run its course as it should,” he said.