Bergdahl seeks Obama pardon to avert military trial

WASHINGTON — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the former prisoner of war who’s accused of endangering comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan, is asking President Barack Obama to pardon him before leaving office.

White House and Justice Department officials said Saturday that Bergdahl had submitted copies of the clemency request seeking leniency. If granted by Obama, it would allow Bergdahl to avert a military trial scheduled for April where he faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. The misbehavior charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

If the pardon isn’t granted, Bergdahl’s defense team said it will expand its legal strategy to the new administration by filing a motion arguing President-elect Donald Trump violated his due process rights with scathing public comments about the case.

The pardon request to Obama was first reported by The New York Times.

Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was held captive by the Taliban and its allies for five years.

The Obama administration’s decision in May 2014 to exchange him for five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prompted criticism accusing Obama of jeopardizing nation’s safety.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump was Bergdahl’s most vocal critic, saying repeatedly the soldier is a traitor who would have been executed in the “old days.”

Bergdahl’s lead defense lawyer, Eugene Fidell, said he plans to file a motion seeking dismissal of the charges against Bergdahl shortly after the January inauguration, arguing Trump violated Bergdahl’s constitutional due-process rights.

There is precedent for a military judge to decide a president’s comments have tainted a military prosecution. In 2013, a Navy judge cited comments by Obama when he issued a pretrial order that two defendants in sexual assault cases couldn’t be punitively discharged if they were found guilty. The judge wrote that Obama’s public comments about cracking down on sexual assault appeared to be demanding particular results from military courts.

Bergdahl has said he walked off his Afghan post because he wanted to draw attention to what he saw as problems with his unit.

Bergdahl