Army says Bergdahl to face court martial for desertion

But recently, the Army lawyer who presided over a preliminary hearing in his case recommended that Bergdahl neither face jail time nor a punitive discharge.

Fidell said he and Bergdahl’s military lawyers “had hoped the case would not go in this direction”.

Bergdahl disappeared June 30, 2009, from Combat Outpost Mest-Malak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and subsequently was captured.

It also came after House Republicans last week issued a report portraying as reckless and illegal President Barack Obama’s decision to swap Sgt. Bergdahl for five Taliban detainees.

It is the first time he has spoken out about the case.

The hearing is expected to take place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where FORSCOM has its headquarters. Presidential candidate went so far as to call for the sergeant to be executed.

Senator John McCain, who chairs a committee that oversees promotions of senior military officers, said last month that he would hold a hearing on the case if Bergdahl was not punished. Gen. Kenneth Dahl is questioned during a preliminary hearing to determine if Bergdahl will be court-martialed on September 18 at Fort Sam Houston, Tex.

For a time, it looked as if Bergdahl’s case was just too ambiguous for the military to successfully prosecute before a general courts martial.

In recorded phone conversations with filmmaker Mark Boal, Bergdahl said he was unhappy with the leadership in his unit and feared his fellow soldiers might suffer harm as a result.

On Monday, Fidell urged Trump to “cease his prejudicial months-long campaign of defamation against our client”.

“Given this sort of barrage of vilification and now arm-twisting by the Senate and House Armed Services committees, which obviously wield tremendous influence over the military, I have to say that this is very troubling”, Fidell said, adding that a pending court case is not the business of congressional committees. If convicted, Sgt. Bergdahl could face anywhere from life in prison to no confinement.

“We will continue to defend Sgt. Bergdahl as the case proceeds”, Fidell said.

Fidell told CNN’s Martin Savidge that Bergdahl was notified in person by his company commander of the decision concerning the court-martial on Monday.

The head of the Army team that investigated Bergdahl has reportedly said he does not believe he should be imprisoned. Dahl also said he had found no evidence to support assertion that any soldiers had been killed while searching for Bergdahl over the course of his 59-day investigation, despite claims by Trump and others that six had specifically died while doing so.

On Monday, the service announced that it will seek a general court-martial – the most serious kind of trial in military justice – to prosecute Bergdahl’s crimes.

The Army’s announcement comes days after “Serial”, one of the nation’s most popular podcasts, launched its series on Bergdahl.