Earlier this week Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein openly expressed her outrage over President Obama "totally breaking the law" by failing to inform Congress of the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and Taliban prison swap. Now as the White House considers the release of another GITMO detainee, Senator Lindsey Graham is putting impeachment charges on the table if it happens again.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned Wednesday that Republican lawmakers would call for President Obama’s impeachment if he released more prisoners from Guantanamo Bay without congressional approval.
Republicans worry Obama may try to shut down the prison camp unilaterally after congressional opposition has repeatedly stymied efforts to pass legislation to close it.
“It’s going to be impossible for them to flow prisoners out of Gitmo now without a huge backlash,” Graham said. “There will be people on our side calling for his impeachment if he did that.”
Legal scholars over the past week have impeachment in this case would be valid. Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano even went so far as to accuse President Obama of aiding the enemy with the release of five Taliban commanders in exchange for Bergdahl.
Long time Democrat, George Washington University law professor and esteemed legal scholar Jonathan Turley told CNN that there's no doubt Obama broke the law with the exchange.
“They did,” the professor replied matter-of-factly. “I don’t think that the White House is seriously arguing that they’re not violating federal law. And to make matters worse, this is a long series of violations of federal law that the president’s been accused of. … This is going to add to that pile. I don’t think there’s much debate that they’re in violation of the law.”
And to think the White House thought the reaction to all of this would be "euphoria."
Meanwhile, last night the Senate was briefed on the Bergdahl swap, which apparently wasn't very helpful.
Senators said Wednesday they still have a lot of questions after attending a classified White House briefing about the prisoner exchange with the Taliban to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Officials from the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies briefed the lawmakers in an attempt to ease the mounting criticism surrounding the deal to free Bergdahl, who was held in captivity by the Taliban for five years.
However, many said the briefing did little to quell their concerns, with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., saying he left the briefing with more questions than answers. Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss agreed.
“I don’t see how anybody can walk out of there with any kind of comfortable feeling that the administration from a notification standpoint, and I emphasize that, did what they should have done or what they had the opportunity to do. I mean, it was like they didn’t trust Dianne (Feinstein) and me," he told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren on "On the Record."
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