Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA-D) Disappointed Lawmakers Not Given 30-Day Notice by Law by Obama Administration on Sgt. Bergdahl – Taliban 5 Swap

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: OOPS, SORRY, WE FORGOT…

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (CA-D) said yesterday of the  Obama administration that she was “very disappointing that there was not a level of trust sufficient” in failing to notify lawmakers 30 days’ notice about a deal to release five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. She stated that National Deputy Security Adviser Tony Blinken called her Monday night “apologizing” for failing to notify lawmakers sooner. DIFI  referred to Blinken’s apology as an oversight. HAH! Oversight? How does the Obama administration go from Jay Carney stating explicitly in 2013 that Congress will be told in advance by law to no communication what-so-ever with the ranking Senate chair?

The Democrat Divide

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein took at shot at the Obama administration on Tuesday for failing to give lawmakers 30 days’ notice about a deal to release five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only POW from America’s war in Afghanistan.

“It’s very disappointing that there was not a level of trust sufficient to justify alerting us,” Feinstein told reporters in the Capitol.

A defense bill that President Obama signed into law in December 2013 requires that Congress be notified 30 days ahead of releasing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay.

Feinstein said that National Deputy Security Adviser Tony Blinken called her Monday night “apologizing” for failing to notify lawmakers sooner.

“He apologized for it and said it was an oversight,” Feinstein said. When asked whether he used the word “oversight,” Feinstein clarified: “In so many words, I can’t say. That was my impression.”

While the California Democrat says “the president certainly has an executive authority that he can use,” she also wants to know whether Bergdahl was a deserter, and she wants to know the terms of the deal with the Qatari government, which has pledged to keep the Taliban prisoners for a year. There will be a briefing Tuesday for Intel Committee members, and a closed Senate Armed Services Committee hearing next Tuesday about the swap.

Although, this is a Democrats reaction of moral and legal outrage toward the Obama administration and their actions … Are Democrats finally figuring out that Obama does not trust them either or care to include them in his imperial government?   Hot Air points out that despite the arguments offered by the White House that they needed Bergdahl back no matter how he’d been captured, Feinstein suggested that his status mattered in the equation. The American public reaction to this ill-advised prisoner swap will only serve to cause Democrats to further run away from Obama in the upcoming midterm elections.