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Trump's comments about Bergdahl loom over sentencing

Erica Pandey, author of @Work

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.

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Scoop: Gina Haspel threatened to resign over plan to install Kash Patel as CIA deputy

CIA Director Gina Haspel. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign in early December after President Trump cooked up a hasty plan to install loyalist Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), as her deputy, according to three senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

Why it matters: The revelation stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world's most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

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  2. Politics: Biden says, "We will manage the hell out of" vaccine distribution — Biden taps ex-FDA chief to lead Operation Warp Speed amid rollout of COVID plan — Widow of GOP congressman-elect who died of COVID-19 will run to fill his seat.
  3. Vaccine: Battling Black mistrust of the vaccines — "Pharmacy deserts" could become vaccine deserts — Instacart to give $25 to shoppers who get vaccine.
  4. Economy: Unemployment filings explode again — Fed chair: No interest rate hike coming any time soon —  Inflation rose more than expected in December.
  5. World: WHO team arrives in China to investigate pandemic origins.
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John Weaver, Lincoln Project co-founder, acknowledges “inappropriate” messages

John Weaver aboard John McCain's campaign plane in February 2000. Photo: Robert Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

John Weaver, a veteran Republican operative who co-founded the Lincoln Project, declared in a statement to Axios on Friday that he sent “inappropriate,” sexually charged messages to multiple men.

  • “To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you,” Weaver said.
  • “The truth is that I'm gay,” he added. “And that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”
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