sergeant bergdahl deferred all of these decisions to a later hearing. bergdahl is accused of leaving his post in afghanistan in 2009 before being captured bay the taliban. we have a series of reports covering today s developments. i want to begin with sarah dallof who joins me from outside the court. explain what happened at court today. reporter: well, it was a subdued and brief appearance for sergeant bergdahl. it lasted no more than 15 minutes, as you heard a military spokesman say right there. sergeant bergdahl deferred entering a plea. he also deferred making a decision whether he will face a court-martial with a judge or military jury. he did ask to be represented by both a military attorney and civilian attorney. right now, his next appearance in court when he may enter that plea is set for january 12th. as we move forward, we may see his attorneys begin to push to move this case to texas.
sergeant bergdahl has been on desk duty at fort sam houston in san antonio since his release as part of a prisoner exchange with five prisoners from guantanamo bay. bergdahl s case is back in the spotlight not only because the case is moving forward in the court system, but also because of the podcast serial in which bergdahl says he willingly left his military base in afghanistan in 2009 in an attempt to kind of draw attention to what he perceived were leadership problems within his unit. he was subsequently captured bay the taliban and held for five years. this is a controversial case and one that we are going to hear a lot of debate on as it moves forward. security was understandably tight at the base today and will remain so as we move forward. sarah, thanks so much. i want to bring in msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber. this is pretty striking because we have not seen bowe bergdahl, this image of him walking away in his military uniform from court is a strong image of