House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) will hold hearings on the prisoner swap of five Taliban detainees for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, McKeon announced Monday.
“Now my perception is he [Obama] broke the law by not informing Congress 30 days before,” McKeon said on MSNBC Monday morning.
McKeon responded to White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice’s assertion on Sunday that Congress had been consulted on the issue in the past and were “well aware” that this could happen, but that the final decision was “expedited.”
“I have not been a part of this and I am chairman of the committee,” McKeon responded.
Republicans have warned the move could put Americans at risk and, as McKeon noted, expressed outrage at the fact Congress was not given required notice of the prisoner exchange.
“We will be holding hearings. I’m sorry that this is being portrayed as a Republican issue. I think Democrats also voted for this law, it was important for our national security, it’s important for our responsibility for oversight of this administration,” he said, stressing that the issue should not be seen as partisan, but rather an issue of following the law.
An Armed Services Committee spokesperson told Breitbart News that no date or witness list has yet been set for an upcoming hearing but expected it to occur sometime this month.
McKeon added that even 72 hours after the releases the administration has yet to tell Congress ”how they are going to ensure that these five top level Taliban terrorists are not coming back into the fight.”
