The Washington Post’s resident fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, called Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) out on Friday for flip-flopping on a trade of five Taliban detainees for a U.S. solider detained in Afghanistan.
Appearing on CNN Thursday, McCain said those who accused him of changing his position on a prisoner exchange after Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed from Afghanistan were “lying.”
But in evaluating McCain’s position, Kessler noted the senator told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February that he was “inclined to support” the exchange of prisoners, “depending on a lot of the details.”
Cooper billed that as a “new position” for McCain at the time. A Washington Post report dated Feb. 17, the day before their interview, revealed a potential deal was being discussed that involved the transfer of five Taliban detainees into protective custody in Qatar in exchange for Bergdahl’s release. McCain had previously been opposed to the detainees’ release as a “confidence-building measure” without the added condition of Bergdahl’s freedom.
McCain hung his defense Thursday on those details.
“The details are unacceptable and for anyone to accuse me, therefore, of saying that I’d support any prisoner swap under any circumstances is lying,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “And the details are outrageous. They went to Qatar, where the Taliban has an office, and in a year they are going to be out and the deal is, like any other agreement, as I said, in the details. I mean, it’s just totally unacceptable. These people would be back in the fight.”
Kessler didn’t buy it:
We fully appreciate that the details of a prisoner exchange are important, and McCain certainly made that caveat clear. But since the deal was announced, he has suggested that the question of trading the Taliban Five for Bengdahl was a surprise—and that’s certainly not the case. These five men were always part of the prisoner swap, so that is not a detail that can be in dispute. Indeed, only a day after The Washington Post revealed a deal was in the works to trade the five men for Bengdahl, McCain appeared on television with what was billed as a “new position.”
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McCain may have thought he left himself an out when he said his support was dependent on the details. But then he can’t object to the most important detail–the identity of the prisoners–that was known at the time he indicated his support. McCain earns an upside-down Pinocchio, constituting a flip-flop.
I think those folks from the Washington Post need some ‘Straight Flip…er…Talk’.
McCain is simply a liar. He knew about the proposal for over two years. Congress was informed about this swap over two years ago when it was first proposed. As reported by Rolling Stone magazine, back in early 2012 the debate between Senators supporting and opposing this swap came to a boil in January of that year, when administration officials went to Capitol Hill to brief a handful of senators on the possibility of the prisoner exchange. The meeting, which excluded staffers, took place in a new secure conference room in the Capitol visitor center. According to sources in the briefing, the discussion sparked a sharp exchange between Senators John McCain and John Kerry, both of whom were decorated for their service in Vietnam. McCain, who endured almost six years of captivity as a prisoner of war, threw a fit at the prospect of releasing five Taliban detainees.
“They’re the five biggest murderers in world history!” McCain fumed
Kerry, who supported the transfer, thought that was going a bit far.
“John,” he said, “the five biggest murderers in the world?”
McCain was furious at the rebuke. “They killed Americans!” he responded. “I suppose Senator Kerry is OK with that?”
McCain reluctantly came around on the prisoner exchange, according to those present at the meeting, but he has continued to speak out against negotiating with the Taliban.
I knew this several days ago.
McCain’s on TV so much how can anyone expect to him to actually remember all the bullshit he spouts much less hold him to it?
We who are not in Congress know things way before they do.