Trump has been a vocal critic of Bergdahl. Photo: Lynne Sladky / AP
The sentencing of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl may be held up because of comments President Trump has made. Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy last week, 8 years after he abandoned his post in Afghanistan.
The military judge who will determine his sentence said Trump's remarks — he has called Bergdahl a "traitor" — could call into question whether he received a fair trial, the Washington Post reports.
The backdrop: Bergdahl faces up to life in prison, and at his sentencing hearing the judge debated whether Trump's remark to reporters last week — when he said, "[P]eople have heard my comments in the past" about Bergdahl — was a reaffirmation of the president's previous comment calling Bergdahl a "dirty, rotten traitor."
The judge will review whether Trump's words, as commander-in-chief, unfairly influenced Bergdahl's decision to plead guilty.