President Donald Trump’s campaign-trail criticism of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, while “problematic,” hasn’t prevented the soldier from getting a fair trial on charges that he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009, a military judge ruled Friday.
Bergdahl’s lawyers had argued that Trump violated their client’s due-process rights by repeatedly calling him a “traitor” and that the judge should dismiss charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Bergdahl is scheduled for trial in April, and could face life in prison on the latter charge.
The Judge, Army Col. Jeffery Nance, wrote in his ruling that Trump’s comments were “disturbing and disappointing” but didn’t constitute unlawful command influence. Nance agreed with prosecutors’ arguments that Trump’s comments amounted to campaign-trail rhetoric, and the judge wrote the comments shouldn’t harm potential jurors’ impartiality.
“The accused was merely the foil for delivering that political message,” Nance wrote. “All reasonable members of the public and potential panel members will know that was what he was doing and will not allow the rhetoric to affect their impartiality.”
Nance did say, however, that he would allow defense attorneys wide leeway to question potential jurors about Trump. He said they can renew their request to dismiss the charges once they’ve sought to find out how Trump’s comments affected potential jurors.