Now that public opinion for the prisoner swap of the Taliban-5 in exchange for alleged deserter Bowe Bergdahl has gone south, the latest official story is that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — not the president — gave the green light for the deal.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., appeared on CNN’s “Outfront” Monday evening following a classified briefing by White House officials.
Ashleigh Banfield, filling in for Erin Burnett, told McKeon that she’d heard reports that the administration, in response to a question by a committee member, claimed Hagfel gave the final go-ahead for the exchange.
“Is that accurate?” she asked, according to a CNN transcript of the broadcast.
“That was the last question asked, and the answer was Secretary Hagel, which kind of surprised me, because I did see the president out there with the Bergdahls, sounded like he was taking full credit for the operation, and now they are saying that Secretary Hagel made the decision, probably parsing of words or probably maybe now that there’s a little pushback or, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know who’s in charge or who’s making the decisions. It did seem to me that it was the president, and that was the emphasis up until this briefing, and now they are saying Secretary Hagel.”
Shortly after the interview, “Outfront” tweeted:
Classified #Bergdahl briefing just finished. WH officials say Secy. Hagel made the final call on #Bergdahl swap. @BuckMcKeon is #OutFront.
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) June 9, 2014
It only took a single minute for this to get a response, and it was a good one:
@OutFrontCNN @zerohedge Buck stops…not here.
— Chris (@forewit) June 9, 2014
A Twitter user with the handle Caddy Wompass threw in his own commentary:
@OutFrontCNN @BuckMcKeon And yet someone else takes the fall for Barry the Bumbler.
— Caddy Wompass (@caddywompass) June 9, 2014
@OutFrontCNN @BuckMcKeon Smells like Bullshiggedy
— Caddy Wompass (@caddywompass) June 9, 2014
Many more tweeps soon joined in, and very few of their remarks were complimentary to the president:
@OutFrontCNN Right, because Obama always needs someone else to blame. What a slimeball. @BuckMcKeon
— crosspatch (@VictorB123) June 9, 2014
.@OutFrontCNN That sounds like “Obama didn’t know”. I bet @donnabrazile will run with this.
— DC Dude (@DCDude1776) June 9, 2014
So the buck stops with…Chuck Hagel, @OutFrontCNN? ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round…’ @BuckMcKeon
— GuardAmerican (@GuardAmerican) June 9, 2014
What color was the bus? MT @OutFrontCNN: #Bergdahl briefing finished. WH officials say Hagel made the final call on #Bergdahl @BuckMcKeon
— #VoteForMav2014 (@TheMaverick21) June 9, 2014
What color indeed. That’s one thing we’ve seen plenty of in the last five-and-a-half years — people being thrown under the bus to cover for the president.
In a later segment of the program, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told Banfield that although it would have been “far wiser” to comply with the law and keep Congress informed of the swap, he thought that “the president had the constitutional authority under Article 2 to make this decision” on his own.
There are only two problems with this line of reasoning: First, neither Obama nor Schiff has the authority to determine what is or is not constitutional — that’s a function of the courts. Second, Article 2 of the Constitution gives the secretary of defense no power whatsoever.
