Donald Trump: We Should Have Executed Bergdahl

'30 years ago, he would have been shot'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 8, 2015 6:43 PM CDT
Donald Trump: We Should Have Executed Bergdahl
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowd while arriving at a rally Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, in Las Vegas. Trump spoke at the Treasure Island hotel and casino on the Strip.    (John Locher)

Donald Trump said Thursday that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should have been executed for leaving his post in Afghanistan. "We're tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who's a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed," the Republican presidential front-runner said to cheers at a rowdy rally inside a packed Las Vegas theater at the casino-hotel Treasure Island. "Thirty years ago," Trump added, "he would have been shot." Bergdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, said in a statement that 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," Fidell said. Trump has, in the past, pantomimed a firing squad, Fidell said.

Bergdahl was charged in March with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. The Army conducted a hearing on his case earlier this month. Bergdahl has been accused of leaving his post in southeastern Afghanistan in June 2009. He was held prisoner by the Taliban for five years, then exchanged for five Taliban commanders being held by the US. Trump has long railed against the deal. (More Bowe Bergdahl stories.)

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