Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Tuesday bashed the White House for failing to notify Congress before negotiating for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“I strongly believe that we should have been consulted, that the law should have been followed. And I very much regret that that was not the case,” Feinstein told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Democrat @SenFeinstein says flatly WH violated the law by not notifying Congress especially given “bipartisan” concerns about detainees..
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) June 3, 2014
Feinstein and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), chair and ranking member of the Intelligence committee, told reporters that the White House should have consulted members of the committee on the prisoner exchange.
.@SenFeinstein & @SaxbyChambliss say the detainees pose threat in future “dismayed” Congress was not told in violation of law
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) June 3, 2014
.@SenFeinstein & @SaxbyChambliss do not accept that Bergdahl’s health was “In instant danger” “there was time to pick up the phone & call”
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) June 3, 2014
FEINSTEIN: “…It comes with some surprise and dismay that the transfers went ahead with no consultation, totally not following the law…”
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) June 3, 2014
Feinstein and Chambliss both said earlier on Tuesday that White House officials had reached out to apologize for leaving them in the dark on the prisoner swap.
