Democrats saying that the president should have given them 30 days notice. We will get your thoughts this morning on the prisoner swap deal. Hosthost join the conversationn facebook, and you can also email us, journal cspan. Org. The president began his 4day of europe and was asked about riticism of him that he didnt give them 30 days notice. This is what he had to say. [video clip] the United States has always had a pretty sacred rule, and that is we dont lead our men or women in uniform behind. Dates back to the earliest days of our revolution. We have consulted with congress for quite some time about the possibility that we might need to execute a Prisoner Exchange in order to recover sgt. Bergdahl. We saw an opportunity. We were concerned about sgt. Bergdahls health. We had the cooperation of the qataris to execute an exchange, and we seized that opportunity. The process was truncated because we wanted to make sure we did not miss that window. With respect to the bergdahlses of sgt. Captured by the taliban, we have sgt. Een interrogating bergdahl. He is recovering from 5 years of cap tiffany captivity wit hthe taliban. He is undergoing a whole battery of tests and he is going to have to undergo a significant. Ransition back into life he is not even met with his family yet, which indicates the degree to which we take this transition process seriously, something that we learn from the vietnam era. But let me make a very simple here, and that is regardless of the circumstances, but over those may turn out to be, we still get an american soldier backed if he is held in captivity. Warsaw,esident obama in poland on tuesday responding to the criticism by which the president released exchanged Bowe Bergdahl for 5 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Heres what Speaker John Boehner treated that yesterday tweeted out yesterday. Host that was the speaker of the house, john boehner. The chairman of the Armed Services committee on the Senate Democrat of levin, michigan, put out this statement. Host but the ranking republican on the Senate Intelligence committee, saxby chambliss, yesterday had these tweets over the past few days. Host the senator also said host it is not just republicans. Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, as quoted by the daily beast saying she had concerns about this, that she hadnt been notified about a possible swap for 2 years. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman dian feinstein says it has been more than 2 years since she was consulted on the issue, adding that the exchange was greeted by the Senate Intelligence committee with dismay. and lettersre normal to expressing 2 letters expressing their views, to secretary of state yearly clinton and to the president himself. Thattein said in a letter a 30date warning was necessary for any Prisoner Exchange and promising future consultation with congress. Feinstein said there was no additional consultation until. Dday saturday what are your thoughts on this . Independent caller outside of washington, what do you think . Caller good morning, greta. Im a veteran. Its like you should have a 2 lines for nonvets and vets. Hl from idahoergda is worth 1000 talibans. Freedom,who fight for our people that we sent out there, especially at the beginning of this war, it was a phony war for george bush and all is oil people. They should all be in jail for what is going on. Host so you believe no matter the circumstances of his capture, whether he was captured by the taliban or was a deserter , doesnt matter to you . Caller they say he is a deserter already. That is republican talk right there. You are not a deserter if you are going for 30 days. He mightve walked off the post. He might have been on a mission. Nobody is going to know until the military sorts it all out. This guy is a hero and all you americans trying to make him a to be something different, walk a mile in his shoes. You will never have the guts and the heart of this man. Traded 1000 palestinians for one israeli. The motion administration traded the Bush Administration. Thousands of detainees. There is no other things to say about this man. He is a hero. You always bring the last person home when the war is winding down. Host you are a veteran. When did you serve . 19671971. I helped the u. S. Embassy when it was attacked in saigon him and you cannot stop an attack. Morenly way is to add money to guarding the embassies, but the republicans took 300 million from that. I mean, come on, republicans. Host congressman, you said we wont know until the army does its review, and that is the , army reviews desertion charges against freed soldier. The new investigation comes amid mounting allegations that bergdahl deserted his post and put others at risk when they. Earched for him the army completed an earlier investigation into bergdahls actions that included interviewing other soldiers and witnesses. The pentagon said the investigation remains classified a defense of the show said investigate us believe he walked off his post without authorization before he was captured. You are not considered a deserter until you were gone for 30 days. Bruce, what do you think . Caller well, everything is up in the air, and it is going to be like benghazi and every thing else. We are never going to get the complete information. I just thought it was an astute political move by the president on friday with the news release that they always do, and the Veterans Administration debacle is, you know back burner news now. We are going to be indignant and everything but basically, the president broke the law. He was supposed to inform congress, which he didnt. Now we have the dancing of the words of what you did tell them, what they were going to, blah blah blah, but he still broke the law and the has done it before. Were finally getting around to benghazi, and then the debacle at the irs, which, you know, nobody gets fired, nothing happens. It is standard politics in washington. We just moved onto a new political thing that everybody is going to bash for 2 or 3 weeks. Host tk, republican caller. You are up early. Go ahead. Caller thanks for cspan. I was shocked to hear that we made a trade for pow. Alive long as ive been and a citizen of the country of the United States, and has always been a nonnegotiating union with terrorists, and that was a blatant, staunch, dont cross that line type attitude. Obama broke it. You didnt break just that law. He didnt break just that law. He has been flirting with just breaking the law, so to speak, just to doing things you should he shouldnt. I dont know if it is arrogance, or if he can, but this is Foreign Policy. This is what people should think five yearsemember ago when everybody said, you know what, maybe obama doesnt have the qualifications or the knowledge or the experience to deal with Foreign Policy. Look what happened with israel, with netanyahu. Look at what we have here with the hostages. Look at benghazi. Host let me jump in at this point, because our guest coming up on washington journal is Charles Stimson, a former secretary of Detainee Affairs, former Deputy Assistant defense on that issue, and he was quoted the other day that this whole idea we dont negotiate with terrorists is more of a mantra that fact and all administrations have negotiated with terrorists. Caller of course we have, but not all the terrorists throughout the region know about it. This is a big Public Statement and circus. 5 of these detainees who were , and that isrgets why theyve been in jail for 10 years, to let those go publicly like this and then have the news and the press have the nerve to bergdahland badmouth or whatever for how we got captured, give the guy a break. He served the country. Thats get down to what the real problem is lets get down to what the real problem is here, and that is terrorism and the president we have. We have got to get him out and get somebody in there like that has experience, because this Foreign Policy of the president has been a disaster. Host let me show you and our other few years our other viewers the Atlanta Journalconstitution front page. Some say these are graybeards and will not go back into fighting, and that the qatari government is going to watch them for a year, and that the u. S. Didnt negotiate with terrorists, they did it through the qatari government. What do you think that argument . Caller i find it to be a fine argument. These detainees are not going to go back onto the field. There going to go back to families and little respect for life, i hope. Theyre not going to go back into war. And have respect for life, i hope. Theyre not going to go back into war. Feel bad when these detainees were grasping and embracing the people when they met them. That is human nature. Sorrow and, you know, most gratitude that these people are actually have some heart in their soul. But for us to do this is just absolutely insane. Was saying that it is not going to be just kidnapping after kidnapping, state officials, terrorists 5 terrorists, 5 negotiating tools. Timesn the new york today, an opinion piece. A prisoner of war, but not a hero. Now that this man is on his way home, what do we do with him, referring to Bowe Bergdahl. The white house clearly erred by pretending that sgt. Bergdahl was an ordinary prisoner of war and that his return would be cause for unalloyed celebration. It should have brought him home as quietly as possible with no fanfare. I dont see how the pentagon can avoid reexamining what happened on june 30, 2009. If sgt. Bergdahl is proved mentally competent to stand trial, 80 users a few years in the north to reflect on maybe he spends a few years in leavenworth to reflect on his dereliction of duty. But the anger seems somehow fitting a messy and inconclusive and to award that went on far too long without a clear purpose after the rout of al qaeda. Bowe bergdahl is going home. So are the taliban. Lydia, you are on the air. Caller i have to take a deep breath, because i can understand why president obama didnt inform congress. Republicans wouldve rushed to fox news and blabbed everything and probably sabotaged the release of this soldier. Wonder if hesi served in military. If youve never been in combat, you dont have a clue. My late husband was a korean war veteran and he said combat was hell and he never recovered from that war. We dont know sgt. Bergdahls mental status. He was 23 when he was captured. He probably volunteered when he was a teenager. 19yearold 18 and kids and send them to afghanistan and iraq and when they come back they are never healed. Leavenworth is called for, and im very disappointed in john mccain. He has always been a statesmen and inspiration to me. If anyone should understand what this soldier is going to come it should be john mccain. 5 years in a north korea prison camp host because he is a prisoner of war himself. Caller yes, and he knows what its like. And some of the soldiers accused him of being a traitor, saying he collaborated with the enemy. If you are being tortured, you would say anything. We dont know if this young man would ever be mentally fit or rushingand the people out to condemn him have never served in the military. Bill kristol and all these eople running to morning joe, running their mouths and they dont know what they are talking about. These people have never had a trial, never had charges brought against they were also prisoners of war. That place should be closed. We are wasting 500 million in your keeping a place open and that money should be given to the Veterans Administration to take care of our wounded and maimed soldiers. Host ok, lydia, to your sentiment, hear from the New York Times this morning is from John Ballenger iii, at top lawyer at the state department under george w. Bush. To facergdahl will have military justice. We dont leave soldiers on the battlefield under any circumstances unless they have actually joined the enemy army, mr. Bellinger told fox news on tuesday. he was a young 20 year old and young 20yearolds make stupid decisions and i dont think we say that if you make a stupid decision we leave you in the hands of the taliban. leo. Caller hello. Good morning to you. Republican caller that you had, you gave him an extensive period of time and i would appreciate if you allowed me half of the time you gave him. First of all, im a military veteran, i served overseas. And i was in my 20s. Let me tell you something, and people might want to hear this. By the time a person leaves i left from louisiana, i live in , andeep south of louisiana im in the military and i heard about racism. I never dealt with that until i went in the United States army. Second, and you get to these places overseas and you find out the atrocities, the lies, the horrible things United States have done in this world, and you are part of that are just like , sodahl told his family many lies, and you are 20 years old, you might walk away, too. Host ok, leo. Glenn, republican caller. Caller good morning, washington journal. Thanks for taking the call. You can always find a lot of callers on the left that hate america and try to justify everything against america and like to remind callers that there is a law on the books called the valor law, and it seems like the last caller was a soldier and you can tell by his demeanor but the first caller this morning, you could tell by his demeanor, he said he was a vet, wasnt a vet. Host why do you say that, glenn . Caller well, i dont have a crystal ball and i can see behind these callers phones and their lives but i would be willing to bet that 50 or 40 of everybody that calls in and says theyre a veteran are not. The percentages of people who serve are less than 3 , yet 40 of every democrat calls in and says they are a vet. I want to remind them that they are breaking a federal law by doing so. If they claim they are a veteran and they are not they could be in prison for that. Host what do you think about the criticism and the circumstances behind the release Bowe Bergdahl . Hostcaller the president should never have discretion if he is breaking the law. If you go to colonel allen wests site, he is calling for the impeachment of president obama over this. President obama sanitinegned the ndaa, National Defense authorization act, and any people commented on judge olitano says we have a federal statute that makes it a felony to provide assistance to a terrorist organization. Money, any asset whatsoever, including human assets. Even ask the question, why these 5, the top 5 taliban officials were released, when they have plenty of other lowlevel detainees that could have been exchanged for bergdahl. I just question the president s not only Legal Authority but ethics in this. Why should one man or woman be able to decide who gets released when the law is on the books and congress has to make this decision . Glenn, let me jump in and get your reaction to general martin dempsey, who posted this on his Facebook Page, and then the white house was alluding reporters to it. To those of you interested in my personal judgments about the recovery of sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the questions about this particular soldiers conduct are separate from our effort to recover any u. S. Service member in enemy captivity. This was likely the last, best opportunity to free him. As for the circumstances of his capture, when he is able to provide them, well learn the facts. Like any american, he is innocent until proven guilty. Our army leaders will not equate from his conduct if it occurred. In the meantime, we will care for him and his family. Finally, i want to thank those who for almost five years work to find him, prepared to rescue him, and ultimately put themselves at risk to recover him. General dempsey is saying in there, though, that they will go to any means to get an american soldier on the battlefield. And that they think this was the last opportunity because as the war winded down, Sergeant Bergdahl became of less value to the taliban. What do you think . Caller well, i agree to a certain extent that the to bring allegiance is back any soldier, and i think we all agree that any soldier in the battlefield is the most valuable person that needs to be brought back. So i agree with his assessment. Everything is a matter of negotiation and timing, and i would even contest with the war winding down our troops are to be taken out of afghanistan, but the caliban is is running down taliban not winding down. They are winding up. I see documentaries on frontline and stuff. If the president has violated this law he is primed for impeachment. Host glenn, on that point, inside the Washington Post this morning they have this. The National Defense authorization act of 2014 requires the administration to notify congress at least 30 days before releasing the premises and are releasing a prisoner from guantanamo. But obama, in what is known as a signing statement, forecast that he may disregard the role because he believed it unlawfully restrained his president ial authority. Senator Dianne Feinstein said that Deputy National security advisor Anthony Blinken called her monday night to apologize to failing for failing to notify her of the lease before it was discussed publicly. A Senior Administration official said blinken told feinstein that we regretted we were not able to reach some numbers personally on saturday. we have been very clear that about the reasons we did not notify congres