Bergdahl lawyers appeal Trump motion to top military court

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Lawyers for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl fulfilled a promise Thursday to appeal to the top military court to toss out their client’s case over disparaging comments made by President Trump on the campaign trail.

In a 314-page motion filed Thursday with the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, defense lawyers said the “unprecedented circumstances” of Trump repeatedly calling Bergdahl a traitor who should be executed constitute apparent unlawful command influence (UCI).

“To describe President Trump’s comments about Sgt. Bergdahl as merely ‘troubling,’ ‘made without consideration of their possible impact on the trial of the accused,’ ‘disturbing and disappointing,’ and ‘problematic,’ … does not begin to vindicate the important interest in fostering public confidence in the administration of military justice,” they wrote in the motion, quoting the judge in Bergdahl’s court-martial. “President Trump’s repeated public vilification of Sgt. Bergdahl must be explicitly acknowledged as apparent UCI and decisive remedial action taken.”

If the case is not dismissed, they continued, Bergdahl should face no punishment or his punishment should not include confinement.

Bergdahl is set to face a court-martial in April on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.

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