GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump blasted Army. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, calling him a traitor and arguing he should have been executed for deserting.
“We’re tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who’s a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed,” Mr. Trump told a crowd Thursday in a theater at the Las Vegas casino-hotel Treasure Island, The Associated Press reported.
“Thirty years ago he would have been shot,” Mr. Trump added.
Sgt. Bergdahl has been accused of leaving his post during his tour in Afghanistan in 2009. He was captured and held prisoner by the Taliban for five years before he was exchanged for five high-ranking Taliban commanders being held by the U.S.
Mr. Trump has often railed against the prisoner exchange and Sgt. Bergdahl.
In a statement, Sgt. Bergdahl’s lawyer Eugene Fidell, said Mr. Trump “has become a broken record on this subject. If he took the time to study what actually emerged at the preliminary hearing he would be singing a different tune.”
He added that Mr. Trump has pantomimed a firing squad during his rants on Sgt. Bergdahl, Newser reported.
Sgt. Bergdahl was charged in March with desertion and misbehavior before leaving the Army.
Earlier this month the Army held a hearing on the case in San Antonio to determine if Sgt. Bergdahl would face a court-martial.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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