The National Defense Authorization Act required the Obama Administration “to alert Congress of the pending release of prisoners from Guantanamo at least 30 days in advance.”
Obama lied to the media today, claiming that his administration had “consulted with Congress for quite some time” about the possibility of a prisoner exchange.” Obama’s lie was exposed by multiple members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican:
- “House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers on Tuesday said that Congress hadn’t heard from the Obama administration since 2011 on the possibility of a prisoner swap with the Taliban... “I don’t know what he means by consulted Congress for some time… In 2011, they did come up and present a plan that included a prisoner transfer that was, in a bipartisan way, pushed back. We hadn’t heard anything since on any details of any prisoner exchange.” Rogers said “the only thing Congress had seen since 2011 concerning Bergdahl was a proof of life video released in December 2013.”
- Senator John McCain “also said that Congress had not been adequately briefed on the issue. “We were never told that there would be an exchange of Sgt. Bergdahl for five Taliban. We were told they were considering — and we steadfastly, both Republicans and Democrats, rejected the notion —that they were going to release some of these Taliban in exchange for ‘confidence-building measures’ so that negotiations could continue… What we were briefed on was an entirely different scenario from the one that took place.”… a McCain aide later told POLITICO that the last briefing McCain participated in concerning Bergdahl took place two years ago.”
- According to the Obama Administration, its failure to disclose the “Gitmo 5″ prisoner swap to Congress in accordance with law was a mere “oversight.” Democrat Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein “told reporters that she received a call from Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken on Monday evening apologizing for what the administration is calling an “oversight.”… Feinstein also said leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence panels were almost unanimously against a prisoner trade when it came up in 2011.”
