Judge won't dismiss Bergdahl case over Sen. McCain comments

RALEIGH, N.C. — A military judge has rejected arguments that Sen. John McCain improperly swayed the prosecution of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with negative comments about the soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan.

Defense lawyers for Bergdahl, a native of Hailey, argued that McCain exerted unlawful command influence by telling a reporter in 2015 that the Senate committee he leads would hold a hearing if Bergdahl weren’t punished.

Bergdahl, who is scheduled for a military trial in February 2017, disappeared from his post in Afghanistan in June of 2009 and wound up being held captive by the Taliban and its allies for five years. The defense had asked the judge to dismiss charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy against Bergdahl, or rule that he face no punishment if convicted.

But Army judge Col. Jeffery Nance decided that the comments by the Republican senator from Arizona haven’t unfairly influenced the case.

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