Obama administration broke law in Bergdahl exchange: audit
Obama administration officials broke two federal laws when they exchanged Taliban warriors for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the government's top investigative office said in a legal report Thursday.
Officials should have given Congress a 30-day heads-up, and also illegally switched money from one account to another to conduct the swap, the Government Accountability Office said.
President Obama had defended the swap as a legal use of his powers as commander in chief, and said he had to keep Congress in the dark in order to preserve secrecy in the delicate negotiations with the Taliban.
But members of Congress from both sides of the aisle questioned the decision, both on the grounds of whether the U.S. was right to let go five potentially dangerous Taliban fighters and whether Mr. Obama broke the law by not consulting with Congress.
The GAO said the Defense Department didn't break the law by determining these five Taliban were no longer a threat to the U.S., but did break the consultation law and also by spending money that Congress didn't authorize.
"DOD obligated funds that were not legally available," the GAO legal analysts said, saying the department must report itself for breaking the law.
© Copyright 2014 The Washington Times, LLC.
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