The exchange of the American deserter Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders in Guantanamo Bay shows something new in the US political scene. Obama is not even bothering to pretend it is a good deal, (“some recidivism is expected”, he said of the Taliban cut loose) and his ass-lickers in the media are not even pretending that it was good for the country. They are forced to admit Bergdahl was a deserter. The country is not celebrating. The Congress will consider whether the President exceeded his authority by not notifying them 30 days in advance of the trade.
The Washington Post writes:
On the Hill, Democrats were more vocal than in previous days in expressing their concern that the White House did not notify Congress of the Guantanamo detainee release ahead of time.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 requires the administration to notify Congress at least 30 days before releasing a prisoner from Guantanamo. But Obama, in what is known as a signing statement, forecast that he may disregard the rule because he believed that it unlawfully restrained his presidential authority.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that deputy national security adviser Antony J. Blinken called her Monday night to apologize for failing to notify her of the release before it was disclosed publicly.
They apologized for not giving the Senator advance notice of their intention to break US law, not that they apologized for breaking it.