Bowe Bergdahl's Attorneys Want to Interview Donald Trump About Campaign Trail Comments

[IDemo]

Source: ABC News

Bowe Bergdahl's attorneys have sent a letter to Donald Trump, requesting an interview to determine whether the Republican presidential front-runner should be deposed about his comments about their client on the campaign trail or should appear as a witness during a motions hearing for Bergdahl's court martial.

"I request to interview you as soon as possible about your comments about Sergeant Bergdahl during frequent appearances in front of large audiences in advance of his court-martial," wrote Lt. Colonel Franklin D. Rosenblatt in a letter addressed to Donald Trump. The letter was released to news organizations on Saturday.

Rosenblatt wrote Trump he was requesting the interview "based on your personal knowledge of matters that are relevant to Sergeant Bergdahl's right to a fair trial."

"This interview will help us determine whether to seek a deposition order under Rule for Court-Martial 702 or your personal appearance as a witness at an Article 39(a) session of the court-martial," he added.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bowe-bergdahls-attorneys-interview-donald-trump-campaign-trail/story?id=37428138

[monmouth4]

1. That big mouth of Trumps is going to cause him many problems..n/t

[houston16revival]

3. +10x

If the lawyer gets his client off the hook, those comments could be
worth something? Is that what they're thinking?

[Calista241]

4. Donald Trump and any of his comments are 100% immaterial to this case

He is nothing more than a pundit spouting his opinion. He has no influence in the process, he's not privy to any information of the case. Interviewing Donald Trump for this is their lawyers sensationalizing public comments.

[houston16revival]

5. You're right

it just sounds worse because it gets so much publicity

If you or I said it, it surely wouldn't catch his lawyers' attention

[dogman]

15. Not if it tainted the jury pool.

Pretty basic lawyering.

[GGJohn]

17. What jury pool?

It'll be a panel of officers deciding his guilt or innocence and I seriously doubt they give a fuck what trump has to say.

[dogman]

18. Are they not jurors?

Sadly some do care what Trump says, particularly when you see American citizens holding their hands in the air saluting their new leader.

[GGJohn]

20. It's highly unlikely these officers deciding his fate really care what he has to say. eom.

[dogman]

22. Sure glad he has a lawyer that knows what he is doing.

Not one who prejudges what is likely.

[Press Virginia]

27. Military courts are different than civilian ones

they don't get to select jurors and the rules of evidence are much different.

Trumps comments will be irrelevant to the proceedings

[dogman]

30. Eugene R. Fidell is an American lawyer specializing in military law.

He is currently Senior Research Scholar in Law and Florence Rogatz Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. What would he know?

[branford]

34. He's knows that he's probably fighting a losing legal battle,

with an acquittal all but impossible, and is now trying some desperate attempts to achieve some meager leverage.

He knows that no court, military or otherwise, would force Trump to appear for a deposition or as a witness at trial. Trump has no command authority over the Bergdahl proceedings, and evidence of potential problems with receiving a fair trial could be raised without the theatrics of testimony by Trump, mostly through the jury selection process. This is precisely why the attorney sent a letter requesting an "interview" and simultaneously notifying the press rather than issuing a subpoena for a deposition or trial testimony.

The attorney was just seeking publicity, likely in order gain some left-wing public pressure for a favorable plea deal. It was an obvious sign of the weakness of the defense, not some brilliant legal strategy. Also, the attorney who wrote the letter to Trump was Lt. Colonel Franklin D. Rosenblatt, not Eugene Fidell. I surmise that Fidell didn't write the letter in case it angers the assigned judge and he needs some plausible deniability.

[houston16revival]

2. That's a good lawyer

Defending his client's rights, and knowing some public comments
that are none too flattering

[FourScore]

26. An excellent lawyer. n/t

[FairWinds]

6. Well yes, Trump's idiotic comments . .

are not nearly as material to the case as were

sitting President Obama's pre-trial comment about

Chelsea Manning, "He broke the law."

Fat lot of good it did that poor bastard, who by the way is suffering
because he followed his conscience and made us all a bit more free.

So please, don't even try to hand me that BULLS--T about the rule of law.

Here is an article I wrote on the Bergdahl case . .

http://www.juancole.com/2015/09/bowe-bergdahl-psychology.html

Veterans For Peace

[msanthrope]

8. Good article. I appreciate the point of view. I have respect

for Chelsea Manning, because I do think she broke the law, but was given an egregious sentence.

[FairWinds]

9. thanks very much for hearing me out . .

Mine should not be taken as the last word on anything.

What we have here is an exchange of views among folks
who will often sharply disagree . .

which is as it should be.

Veterans For Peace

[TipTok]

12. Manning earned every bit of that punishment...

[GGJohn]

14. Bergdahl deserted his unit during wartime,

putting his fellow soldiers in danger, that's unacceptable and I do hope that if he's convicted, the maximum sentence is imposed.

[DinahMoeHum]

19. A former Vietnam POW (8 years) begs to differ. . .

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/who-we-are/member-highlights/2016/03/03/vietnam-pow-speaks-bowe-bergdahl

The author of this piece was a POW in the Hanoi prison system from April 1965 to February 1974. He now heads the Monterey, CA chapter of Veterans For Peace.

(snip)
A personal note here: I was held for 8 years as a POW in Vietnam, along with hundreds of other American airmen as time went along after my capture. I was trained prior in a Navy survival school. And I was a Navy Lieutenant, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. So unlike Bowe, not only did I have training for the possible eventuality of being captured but I was also with fellow Americans. We were able to support each other and resist as an organized, military, team. What a difference from the circumstances of PFC Bowe Bergdahl. What a difference we experienced upon repatriation, welcomed as returning heroes. Bowe is being court martialed.
(snip)
So here we are, and here Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is. A one-year experienced Private First Class soldier, now facing a possible life-in-prison penalty in an Army Court Martial. But this is what always happens when very junior military people are made to suffer for much greater transgressions. The greater questions are of course being ignored: Why and how did our military come to be so politicized? Why are we fighting in Afghanistan in the first place? What President and Administration got us in illegally and immorally, from the beginning? Why aren’t they being punished?

We all need to examine what is really going on here. The upcoming court martial of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is just a signpost of a much deeper, cancerous infection. And punishing this low-ranking man who never should have been in the Army in the first place is anathema to any kind of justice.
Phillip Butler, PhD CDR, USN, (ret.)
President, Veterans For Peace, Chapter 46
(snip)

As far as I'm concerned, Bowe is being railroaded and legally lynched; and the accusations that he caused other troops to die due to his disappearance is total BULLSHIT.


More on Phillip N. Butler at his website:
http://phillipbutlerphd.com/

[GGJohn]

21. He has his opinion, which I disagree with,

the undisputable fact is that he deserted his unit during wartime, putting his fellow soldiers in danger when they had to go look for him.

BTW, desertion in a war zone is punishable by death, but I'm certainly not advocating for his death, if convicted, he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

[dogman]

23. Whoever accepted him in to the Army should then sit along side him.

He had already had a record with the Coast Guard. The danger to fellow soldiers is nonsense, they are operating in a war zone conducting patrols. Looking for him was an aside to their daily work. Do you believe they would have been sitting safely in some compound if he had not left his post? He was mentally unstable when the Army accepted him, and it grew worse with time.

[GGJohn]

24. Oh, I get it now,

you're blaming everyone else except him, he's the victim here, according to you, not the perpetrator.

[dogman]

25. No he's a mentally disturbed person.

This was evident before he enlisted in the Army. The Army does not really care about the mental state, it has quotas to fill.

[Hoppy]

29. By the way, only one poor bastard was ever executed for desertion since the beginning of W.W. II.

That was a poor sot, Private Eddie Slovak. P.T.S. was unheard of at the time of W.W. II. If you deserted or malfunctioned, you were either slapped by General Patton or offered the choice of "front lines" or firing squad.

Slovak was offered that choice and chose the firing squad. Eisenhower approved the sentence, probably as a moral booster to the troops (Yes, Arlene, its sarcasm. Don't get upset.) In contrast, note how many soldiers were pardoned by Lincoln.

[Hoppy]

28. Am I correct that the Courts Marial "jury" is comprised of commissioned officers? If so, they are

likely to be career officers. Is their future with the military influenced by how they would vote in such a trial?

[Dont call me Shirley]

31. "PTSD can be understood as the response of a sane mind to an insane situation."

Excellent article, FairWinds.

[msanthrope]

7. Good for them. nt

[El Shaman]

10. Time to

apply the Poo~Purrie @ Donaldo.

[olddad56]

11. The Doanld seems to have that special GOP teflon coating..

that grants him immunity from any responsibility for his actions or words.

[TipTok]

13. What a joke...

Bergdahl deserves to rot...

[dogman]

16. After the war criminals in the Bush admin are brought to justice.

Of course they are already rotten.

[FairWinds]

32. Hey Mr. GGJohn . .

40,000 troops have deserted the US military since 2003.

Why is Bowie the only one you are going after?

And Manning rots in prison while R. Armitage and Scooter Libby walk
free for a much more serious breech of security.

And you're apparently fine with that.

[GGJohn]

33. Hey Mr. FairWinds,

next time try addressing me instead of someone else, that way I know there is a reply to my post.

Bergdahl isn't the only one I go after, all deserters should be captured and brought to justice and Manning should rot in prison for what she did.

R. Armitage and S. Libbey have absolutely nothing to do with this thread, you want to debate it, start your own damn thread.