for an exclusive interview. so be sure to check that out. i'm eric bolling in for bill o'reilly. please remember, the spin stops here because we're looking out for you. tonight questions of honor and honesty. politics and war. as the administration tries to manage new fallout from the president's decision to surrender five top taliban commanders for a soldier now accused of desertion. welcome to a "the kelly file" special everyone. i'm megyn kelly. the white house now has a letter from the house oversight committee asking for all documents and intelligence related to the decision to surrender five top taliban commanders last may. in exchange for an american soldier held hostage. that request comes as the pentagon this week charged that soldier, sergeant bowe bergdahl, with desertion and with misbehavior before the enemy. charges that leave him facing

the possibility of life in prison. what's worse, intelligence sources this week telling fox news that three of the five taliban generals that we exchanged are already trying to return to the battlefield. so some of the key questions now, did the president know that bergdahl was possibly a deserter when he decided to make this swap? what happens when and if these taliban generals actually do return to the battlefield? why did president obama decide to go this route when there were other options available to him? and was it worth it? tonight, we'll speak with the men who served with sergeant bergdahl. we'll hear from outgoing state department spokesperson jen psaki. general jack keane is here to weigh-in. and howie kurtz is here with how the media is handling this story. but we begin with trace gallagher on how this all came to pass. >> megyn, after finishing 16 weeks of training at ft. bening, georgia bowe bergdahl's troop arrived near the border of

pakistan by march of 2009. by early june bergdahl was sending e-mails to his parents calling america "disgusting," even sending home boxes of his books and uniform. on june 30th he walked away from his base and was captured by the taliban. at first his status was unknown. then he was declared missing captured. two weeks later the taliban released a video featuring bergdahl who claimed he was captured after lagging behind during a patrol. >> it's a clear violation of international law to use prisoners for propaganda purposes. and that's in keeping with the way taliban operates. of course we're very concerned for his safety. we're doing everything we can to get him back to his unit, to his family unharmed. >> reporter: military members claim soldiers died while trying to find him. months later another video showing bergdahl in sunglasses and a u.s. military-style uniform. in a third video bergdahl was pleading to be sent home saying the war in afghanistan is not worth the lives. one year after his capture, bowe bergdahl was promoted to army

specialist. a year after that he was promoted to sergeant. the final video came in january of last year. and a few months later bergdahl was free in an exchange for five top taliban leaders held at guantanamo bay, three of whom returned to the battlefield. president obama acknowledged these are men we can't trust but can't convict. and to commemorate the swap the president stood with bergdahl's parents in a controversial rose garden ceremony. >> bob and janny, today families across america share in the joy that i know you feel. as a parent i can't imagine the hardship you guys have gone through. as president i know that i speak for all americans when i say we cannot wait for the moment when you're reunited and your son bowe is back in your arms. >> a day later amid the backlash white house national security adviser susan rice went on a sunday show to say this.

>> certainly anybody who's been held in those conditions in captivity for five years has paid an extraordinary price. but that is really not the point. the point is that he's back. he's going to be safely reunited with his family. he served the united states with honor and distinction. >> and while bergdahl was moved to the brooke army medical center pending the outcome of the investigation, a government accountability office report stated that the bergdahl swap broke the law because the administration failed to notify congress. the white house strongly disagreed with the gao report saying the president has the responsibility to protect the lives of americans abroad, and specifically u.s. service members. and this week bowe bergdahl was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. >> the u.s. army forces command has thoroughly reviewed the army's investigation surrounding sergeant robert bergdahl's 2009 disappearance in afghanistan,

and formally charged sergeant bergdahl under the armed forces uniform code of military justice. >> bergdahl is facing up to life in prison. megyn. >> when the white house escorted bergdahl's parents into the rose garden, it seemed like they were expecting a big celebration over what the administration had pulled off. and at the time a number of media outlets were sympathetic to the soldier and praised the president. but then some of bergdahl's former platoon mates started speaking out about what really happened in afghanistan. and just days after their former buddy was returned home, we got a chance to sit down with six of those platoon mates in an exclusive interview that changed everything. raise your hand if you think he deserted. wow. raise your hand if you have some question about whether he deserted. wow. all right. when you think of him in captivity for five years, and you see that video of him coming home, you know, the taliban released a propaganda piece but

nonetheless it shows him. i mean, do you think this is what i would have done -- what i had to do to stay alive even if it involved saying i converted to islam and took up arms when i fled the united states what do you think about that? >> maybe five days. i would have done everything i had to do cursing them trying to escape, swinging on them. >> try to steal a gun shoot them. i'm not going to be a propaganda piece so my family can see me on the internet. another thing i keep hearing is you know, what were his motives for deserting? it doesn't matter what his motives were. we all took an oath and we all had to abide by, you know, orders. and you don't just leave your fellow americans. >> and he had a -- you, evan the leader about what would happen to him if he took sensitive information -- if he happened to wander off -- >> he said what would happen if my sensitive items went missing? it's a rhetorical question for any soldier to ask. no one doesn't know the answer to that question. >> you're going to get in a whole lot of trouble. >> everything shuts down.

if a weapon's missing everything's going to shut down. >> did he say anything about i'm disillusioned with the war effort? >> he came to me at one point and said he was concerned and frustrated with the army's -- our approach to the war and what we were doing. he said he was frustrated with that. >> he was disappointed in the way he thought us going to war was going to be we are going to war. no it was gun battles every day. the war today is not that way. >> hated the army. >> completely different than what he was saying to people in the platoon about what he felt about the war. >> he wasn't talking about the horror of being an american. >> no. he was wanting to do more aggressive stuff and he was frustrated that we weren't allowed to do it. >> when bergdahl left and we knew that he then was trying to find somebody who spoke english so he could talk to the taliban and we knew he was then trying to make connections with them. i mean the mission changed. just bergdahl leaving the whole mission changed. it went from our hearts and minds, you know, going to

villages trying to find the taliban and helping people, to a search. we've got to search for this guy. >> this is a very big deal. >> it changed everything. i mean, every mission then was slated on, okay, we got intel that he might be here. let's go over there and check it out. for two months maybe more just nonstop. >> every few days just going. >> does the stress level go up for you guys? >> oh yeah. you don't get to shower, you don't get to send an e-mail. >> what did you think when you saw the president with his parents in the rose garden? >> i don't know to think on that. >> we were all in the army. so it was hard to watch that. i had to leave the room. >> wow. >> it's not fair to men that have served this nation honorably and done the right thing, made mistakes maybe, got punished for it came back from it and did even bigger and greater things to have him do something completely wrong, which is desertion. and come back labeled as a hero and not be punished at all. >> what do you make -- we talked

about the segment of susan rice saying he served with honor and distinction. these guys are not big fans of that comment. >> signing on that dotted line, knowing what you're getting yourself into, that's honorable right off the bat. that's great. it was true at the time for him. but then he walked away in the middle of afghanistan on the farthest front lines you could be onto go seek out the taliban. that's spitting in the face to everyone who deployed came back -- >> for every service member. >> not even military. every single person in the military. >> what would you say to him? >> i would just ask him why. >> yeah. >> we've all i think collectively and i know i have as being his team leader and he walks away and we've never got closure on any of this. we have no idea why he did it. and all we want to know is why. >> raise your hand if you would like to see him court-martialed and see a trial? wow. so now sergeant bergdahl has been charged with desertion do his former platoon members feel

justice has been served? their new reaction to the charges and the ponlt that sergeant bergdahl could still get an honorable discharge. plus, i asked state department spokesperson jen psaki if it was worth it to swap sergeant bergdahl for five top taliban terrorists and whether the administration still thinks sergeant bergdahl served with honor and distinction. it's a can't-miss interview ahead on this "the kelly file" special. >> as folks look at the fact bowe bergdahl is being charged and three of the five taliban commanders trying to return to terror, they're asking this question, was it worth it?

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new reaction now on the military's decision to charge sergeant bowe bergdahl with desertion. minutes ago you heard bergdahl's former platoon mates react to the news last may that bergdahl had been rescued. now do they feel like justice will be served? i spoke with three of bergdahl's former platoon mates, cody full, josh cornelison, and evan. evan, you tweeted out at the beginning of this year things i want in 2015. you offered one word closure. did you get it?

>> yes. i mean, i've taken a giant step towards that closure. for five years we've kind of lived with the unknown. and then when they have the rose garden ceremony last year we took a small step forward granted what was being said was completely untrue. and we came forward to let people know what really happened. and after this last year and the investigation it's culminated into a very giant step forward. for me personally getting the closure that i need. >> cody, i know the rose garden ceremony played a big part for you too in your decision to speak out. explain that. >> yeah. you know, if they would have brought him back, we got our american soldier back and they had released a statement or a memo saying, hey, we got him back. there's some circumstances that are surrounding him. we're going to investigate them. that would have been great. you know, we got him back he's going to seek justice. but instead they parade his parents out in the rose garden ceremony. and you have cabinet members come out and say he served with

honor and distinction basically calling him a hero when they knew that wasn't true. and the facts have been the same for five years. but yet you have soldiers that are missing limbs or paid the ultimate price over there and they don't get a rose garden ceremony. all they get is an autocad letter three or four months later. >> what do you think should happen to him, josh? >> i think he should be prosecuted to the full extent allowed. so if that's maximum life in prison, then that needs to happen. i don't think that he needs to, you know, get all the benefits all the rewards that anybody else that honorably served would get. >> what about that though? because the "new york times" had a piece today suggesting that one of the questions here is whether the army will give him discharge, talking about how if you don't get one it can hinder a veteran's job prospects and weigh on the entirety of how a service member looks back on his career. to the "new york times" you say what, josh? >> i think that if bowe bergdahl after all this is finished and

he gets an honorable discharge, i think it's more than a slap in the face. i think it's an absolute spit in the face of every single service member whether it's marines united states army, navy coast guard whatever it is i think that all of those people that have gotten out do have an honorable discharge and did their time and it was honorable. i think that if bowe bergdahl gets out with honorable discharge, it's an absolute disgrace. it's an absolute slap in the face of everybody in the history of the united states military that has served honorably with respect to everyone around them. and kept their oath that they're not going to leave their battle buddy in a time of need. >> evan, i know you say you don't want a plea. you don't want to see him plead. why? >> i want it to go to a trial because i believe if he pleas we won't ever get to hear from him what happened. it's just another -- i guess it's selfish of me, but i want to hear it from him why he did

what he did. i want to know. and i know that everyone who is involved in the situation wants to know. it's something that we have lived with for so long. and i think for the american people they need to hear from him what he was thinking. what was going through his head. he needs to have the chance to you know whether he wants to defend himself or wants to tell the truth of what really happened. >> is there anything he could say that would soften you on the matter? >> there's nothing he could say that would soften me on the matter. i'm not out to get him. i don't have any vendetta against him. i believe that he did something wrong and he needs to answer for what he did. and that's for the military justice side. they'll work on that. but other than that i just -- i kind of want to know why. i think everyone wants to know why. >> that's what you said last year. you all wanted to know why. cody, you said we've played it so many times i don't know how he felt about us but i would have died for him.

and we're struggling to figure out why he walked away. when you hear now the stories that he was tortured and what the enemy did to him and those who say he deserves some mercy because of it what do you say? >> there's consequences for your actions. you know, i feel bad and compassionate as a human being that that happened to another american. but at the same time if you wouldn't have deserted and turned your back on your fellow american comrades, then you wouldn't be in that predicament in the first place. i also don't think it's fair for him to get an honorable discharge anything less than a dishonorable discharge and forfeit all his pay and rank and benefits. you have guys who go to afghanistan iraq multiple times that serve this country honorably, they don't desert they do their job they come home. and these guys are battling ptsd missing a limb have a purple heart, have a few drinks make a mistake, they don't get honorable discharge. how is it fair to them to come

home and not get an honorable discharge, but he deserts? misconduct before the enemy and then now he's supposed to get an honorable discharge? >> it's just one of the possibilities that was raised by the "new york times." it's not likely according to military experts we've spoken with. josh, i want to give you the last word. i know you say when you heard that the charges were being brought you felt relief. were you worried there would be pressure not to charge him? >> the truth has been out there the entire time. we've been telling everybody that wants to listen what the truth is. from shortly after bergdahl disappeared to the initial army investigation to when he was traded back last year. everybody that was around him knew what the truth was. and it's just relieved that the united states army did the right thing in charging bergdahl with desertion and misconduct in front of the army. >> cody, josh, evan, thank you all for your service. and thank you for being back with us.

well, you heard me ask josh about the "new york times" piece wondering how sergeant bergdahl will be able to find a job if the military does not grant him an honorable discharge. wait until you hear what the "times" then did today. howie kurtz is here. plus, i asked state department spokesperson jen psaki if president obama knew that sergeant bergdahl was a potential deserter when he invited his parents to do the big rose garden announcement. her response is next. why did he have the big ceremony in the rose garden? why is there so much pomp and circumstance to celebrate this man when at a minimum he's a very controversial figure? do you have stuff to clean this mess of a breakroom? i have paper towels, sprays, wipes, sponges. and these floors? disinfectant cleaner, mops and "wet floor" signs. how long does it take to reheat cod? we also have air fresheners.

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welcome back to our "the kelly file" special. as we search for answers into why the white house decided to trade five top taliban generals for a soldier now charged with deserting his post on the battlefield. earlier i spoke to state department spokesperson jen psaki. jen good to see you again. >> great to be here, megyn.

>> as folks look at you know, the fact that bowe bergdahl's now being charged and we have these three of the five taliban commanders trying to return to terror, they're asking this question, was it worth it? >> well let me first say, as you know as a lawyer, this is a military justice issue being handled by the army. this is a step in the process. and there are many steps past here. was it worth it? absolutely. we have a commitment to our men and women serving over -- or serving in our military to spentding our national security every day to do everything we can to bring them home. that's what we did in this case. >> there are those who say however there were other means of doing it. your thoughts on that. >> well, megyn, i think there are always a range of decisions and tough decisions the president of the united states always has to make. and that's been the case for decades. it doesn't reach his desk unless it's a tough decision. that was certainly the case here. >> it was a tough decision, but

was it the right decision? i mean that's the question. they look at three of these five taliban guys trying to return to terror now. and they didn't need to be released from gitmo. >> you know, this is a commitment that we have made, we have long made, we have made for decades. we have the ability to track and work with the qataris. the reason that we know that individuals are reportedly online and engaging with individuals they shouldn't be is because we track it. it means the system of tracking works. >> what about the fact that the supervision of these five top taliban commanders over in qatar is supposed to end in two months? that doesn't seem like a good idea. >> well, obviously these plans and agreements are designed and they'll be discussed and we'll do everything we can to ensure that the proper precautions and requirements are in place with the government of qatar. two months from now is a long time as it relates to diplomacy. >> wasn't this at base an effort to get these five guys out of

gitmo? there was no other way to get them out. this is a way of getting out some of the most controversial prisoners there in exchange, you know on paper for serviceman who at least susan rice was telling us served honorably. >> well, this is -- this was an effort to bring an individual home who served his country. >> this is what the critics say. it wasn't so much about getting bergdahl back as it was about getting these guys out something the critics say was a big mistake given what we've seen with them. >> megyn, we have seen reports of online activity. again, that means we're tracking it and that process of working with the qataris is working. >> we're like that's the best way, we don't have to monitor anything. they're behind bars. >> well megyn i think the president's been clear that it's in our national security interest to close gitmo. but this was about bringing home an individual who served his

country. >> what did you make some of the folks today are saying, look, did the president know when he struck this deal did hoe know that bowe bergdahl was a potential deserter? why was there the big ceremony in the rose garden? why was there so much pomp and circumstance to -- >> if we're not prejudging today we certainly weren't prejudging almost a year ago when this decision was made and when sergeant bergdahl was brought home. >> and to those who wonder why susan rice went out there and told the world that this man served with honor and distinction as his own army turns around and says no, you did not sir you deserted the men and women in uniform. and you deserted your platoon mates. you say what? susan rice was wrong? >> well i would say, megyn, that the army has taken steps through their military process. we won't prejudge the outcomes of those steps. >> do you think he served with honor and distinction?

did susan rice have it right? >> i think that we look at sergeant bergdahl as somebody who served his country as many men and women have, been quite some time since we brought him home and there's been some time for those in the military justice system to take a look at this case. and we'll all be the judge of that once that decision's made. >> well, as you just heard the administration is continuing to defend this deal to trade these terrorists for an accused deserter. jen psaki says it was worth it. our panel debates that one next.

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♪ nexium 24hr. it's the purple pill. the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand. available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protectiontm. live from america's news headquarters, i'm robert gray. shocking new information about the germanwings co-pilot who investigators say intentionally crashed flight 9525 in the

french alps. prosecutor say andreas lubitz ripped up a doctor's note excusing him from work on the day of the crash. he was also undergoing treatment at a german hospital just two weeks before that crash. the germanwings flight to dusseldorf crashed tuesday killing all 150 people onboard. amanda knox is officially a free woman. italy's highest court overturning the murder conviction of the 27-year-old and her italian ex-boyfriend. both have maintained their innocence since the 2007 murder of knox's british roommate meredith kercher. knox spent four years in prison before being acquitted. last year that acquittal was overturned. friday's ruling ends the case for good. i'm robert gray, now back. we have a basic principle. we do not leave anybody wearing the american uniform behind. we had a prisoner of war whose

health had deteriorated. and we were deeply concerned about. and we saw an opportunity and we seized it. and i make no apologies for that. >> that was president obama defending the decision to swap five taliban commanders for bowe bergdahl. and when those five taliban terrorists greeted in qatar they were greeted with a heroes welcome. at least three of the five had been busy trying to reconnect with their former terror networks. more on that in a moment. first, the questions about why this deal for these men and this alleged deserter. rich lowry is editor at national review and fox news contributor. and alan combs both join me now. that's the question, leave no man behind has been accepted for many years. but the question is under these particular circumstances this particular man who his entire unit said had walked away, had become a prisoner of war thanks to his own

secondly, the price that was paid. alan, start with you. >> this came out today that his defense is going to be that he left to report on his superiors because of misconduct and had planned to come back. we don't know what happened after that exactly. we don't know that he's guilty. he's being charged. you're innocent until proven guilty. what if he'd been in the hands of the enemy, tortured and been killed? the administration would be blamed. >> we don't know what his motivation was. we don't know whether he's a deserter. he's been charged but not convicted. >> every single former platoon mate says he deserted. >> that's what they say, but he deserves a trial. >> i don't think it makes sense to go to the taliban to report your commanders aren't doing a good job. that makes zero sense. i think there's value in getting this guy back. there's value getting anyone back. but given what he did, the price was too high. and perhaps the most shameful aspect of this was the

completely dishonest p.r. campaign to make him out like sergeant york when he got back despite all the best evidence at the time. you knew there was something fishy here. and then the impugning of the integrity of his fellow troops merely for the offense of going out and telling the truth about what happened. >> who only did that. i mean, the thing that ticked off those guys that served with him was the rose garden ceremony and the holding him up like he was some sort of hero. if president obama had come out and said, look, there's controversy over this man, i understand that. but this is the principle, this is why we did it. i don't know his platoon mates would have spoken out. >> i understand the rose garden ceremony was controversial. that's a very good point. it was good we got him. we don't know all the circumstances. he deserves a trial. by the way we have people in gitmo they should not even be in gitmo because they're there without benefit of a trial. >> that's what i was trying to get at with jen psaki. wasn't this really about emptying five guys out of gitmo

that -- >> we have to let them go anyway at the end of the war. >> that's the point. from the obama administration that's why this deal makes sense no matter what. because they're going to release all these people. they're hell bent on doing it. this was a good way to launder five of the worst through this so-called deal to get these guys out. but look alan if the administration had just gone out and said, look this is a hellish choice, a very difficult thing, there's nothing really to celebrate here. we know his record might not stand up for scrutiny. that would have been the truth. and that is a defensible version of the case. but instead the press conference with the family with the guy with the zz top or boston red sox beard. and then going out and saying he served with honor and distinction that you would have known was false if you looked at the rolling stones story. >> which they refuse to walk back. they refuse to apologize and say i spoke too soon. i should not have said that. he may not have served with

honor and distinction. >> the focus on this now, let's beat up the administration because honor and distinction and rose garden ceremony -- >> that's dishonorable to those who did serve. the obama administration i think did the right thing to get this man out. >> you don't think he deserted? i'll be quiet -- >> i think they could have positioned it better. i think that's a very good point. >> that's a very polite saying -- >> but the larger issue is that he's out, it's good we got him out. he deserves a fair trial. and we don't know more than that which we know. >> the other piece of that is he's not the only one out. those five top taliban commanders are still out. and what does that mean for us? >> they'd have to be out anyway. >> that was just my transition. >> we got to let them go. >> oh sorry about that. >> rich, alan, thank you. that is the question we're going to discuss with general jack keane next.

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with the enemy. a defense official is not disputing fox's reporting. but emphasizing that one of the men has come very close to providing advice council or inspiration to militants. while two other commanders have not crossed that line. before the transfer a gitmo review found all of the men to be high risk. a state department official insists the men's phone calls and online messages did not meet the strict criteria for reengagement laid out by the u.s. intelligence community. which takes into account the motivation and intention of each communication. last year the men got a heroes welcome in qatar where they've been under house arrest. that one-year deal cut with the u.s. expires at the end of may. and the state department couldn't say what happens on day 366. >> by working closely with our qatari partners we are in a strong position to mitigate substantially any potential threat or risk those individuals might pose. >> fox news is also told that other options were under discussion to get sergeant bowe

bergdahl back beyond the controversial swap for the taliban five including a so-called snatch and grab rescue mission, paying a contractor to locate and recover bergdahl as well as working through the pakistani intelligence service. after his release bergdahl was debriefed. and a military intelligence source says he provided information about his route out of afghanistan to pakistan and his captors, but the intelligence was deemed dated and worthless. megyn. >> joining us now with more, general jack keane retired four-star general and chairman of the institute of the study of war. also a fox news military analyst. what's going to happen? jen psaki wouldn't get specific about what's going to happen to these guys in two months when they're now apparently no longer going to be monitored? >> well, certainly. i mean the reason the taliban asks them to come back is not just some token show. they want them back. these are valuable effective leaders who have served well for them in the past. so clearly i think they have two

motivations, one, they want to go back to their families. and, two, they want to get back in the fight helping the taliban cause. i would be stunned if anything less than five eventually found their way back into some leadership role again conducting operations in support of the taliban. that's what this is all about. that's why they wanted them back. >> jen psaki told me not in this interview we just aired but in a prior one we did a couple months ago with a wink and a nod, didn't say it explicitly but implied we may continue to monitor them and sort of said i'm not going to reveal exactly what the plans are. but not to worry. do you buy that? >> well i don't -- i buy the fact we're going to try to continue to monitor them. but we can't control them. we've given up control because of the terms of this agreement. i think the terms should have been house arrest for the next three to five years unless termination of hostilities in afghanistan took place and we actually have a piece aeace accord.

but to provide some kind of oversight, some kind of mechanism to know where they are and what they're doing, even if let's say we did that, still we're going to have no control. they're going to be able to do what they want to do. >> the question is as we discuss discussed in the last panel, okay, no soldiers left behind. i know you believe that. however, the price. that's what this is about. because not only did we exchange these five guys for a man accused of desertion, but the propaganda value. i mean the heroes welcome they got. that tape of you know the cheering when they returned. it's hard to put a price on that. but the question is whether we could have gotten bowe bergdahl back at a cheaper price for somebody who wasn't quite so valued. >> oh yeah. this is absolutely the case. we made a lousy deal. you can't blame the taliban for asking for their top five guys that we have in gitmo to try to get them back. but you have to blame your

administration for acceding to that desire. sergeant bergdahl and his teammates, i respect and admire those you've had on the show they are a small unit of tactical leaders. they do the fighting and the dying. we have hundreds of them in our detention centers in afghanistan who are taliban equivalent of our guys who fight at that level. that is who we should have made the exchange with. not the equivalent of their general officers. >> you know, if president obama said i couldn't get him for them, they wouldn't make that deal. >> you don't make the deal. first of all, i think they know when they're dealing with us we're susceptible to make a lousy deal in terms of ourselves and something that's favorable to the enemy. it's taking place right now with the iranians don't want to change the subject. that's one thing. i think there was another option in exchange for money through a third party. taliban wants money, need money all the time, put some real money in front of them, use a third party to do it.

i think they were clearly alternative options that would have to be negotiated. that's to be sure. the taliban will balk initially. but to give them what they wanted right out of the box like this, huge mistake. we'll pay for that mistake. >> you know, some including "new york times" and we'll get into this in our next segment with howie but are suggesting now this trial is pointless. that this man has been through enough. and some even suggesting an honorable discharge is really the way forward for him so he can have a life after being tortured in the hands of the enemy. what say you? >> well, i just totally disagree. one i applaud general milley the united states military leadership standing up and doing it. we criticized him for the length of it, but the facts are i think he made the right decision. the initial investigation that was done by the commanding officer who bergdahl reports to when he left his post that determination has never changed

and that was he deserted his post. that was done by his commanding officer. now we have a four-star genre view all the facts of the case and he has charged him with the same conclusion that the initial commanding officer came to to include misbehavior. this is unequivocal evidence we have had a soldier who's done something wrong here. he will probably evolve in some kind of plea arrangement with the government i would suspect. but nonetheless there's no denying actually what took place here. >> but what about those who say he deserves mercy given what he went through in the hands of the enemy? >> he has to get a dishonorable discharge in my judgment. i think the mitigation of captivity and his behavior in that captivity and what the enemy did to him, i think we have very specific knowledge of that. our interrogators are experts at getting information out. and i think we know clearly what his behavior was and what the

enemy did to him. if that should be a mitigation, then that will take place. and that will impact on time served in jail. >> uh-huh. >> that will be where the negotiation will take place based on his captivity. but believe me, there is not a soldier sailor or airmen or marine out there who's listening to me that would want anything less than dishonorable discharge for this kind of behavior on the battlefield. that is bona fide desertion in the face of the enemy. and then walking toward that enemy knowing what the results of that would be. that he is being held accountable for that as he should be. >> general jack keane, thank you, sir. >> okay. good talking to you, megyn. >> well the "new york times" came under fire this week for an article that seemed to suggest sergeant bergdahl should get an honorable discharge. then they went a big step further just today. howie kurtz is next on that.

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ameritrade. you got this. well, in the days after the pentagon announced charges for bowe bergdahl, the "new york times" touched off a new controversy with an article that asked how bergdahl would land a new job if he received a dishonorable discharge? then the paper went a big step further in an editorial today entitled, no need to prosecute sergeant bowe bergdahl. the editorial board argues bergdahl has suffered enough and a trial may raise uncomfortable questions about how the military mishandled this situation from the start. howie kurtz is the host of media buzz. he joins me now. the "new york times" doesn't think he ought to be prosecuted contrary to every single military person that we have been in touch with and seen interviewed howie. >> i am just flabbergasted by this editorial. now, i can understand an argument saying if bergdahl is convicted perhaps he should be

sentenced to time served because he did go through five years of hell with the taliban being beaten and so forth. but to say he shouldn't even receive a dishonorable discharge after this guy put his fellow platoon members at risk by deserting and people went out looking for him just boggles my mind. >> right. it's like don't the platoon mates whom he endangered get a vote? because they certainly don't feel the way the times does. the treatment of them throughout this bhoel thing, howie, you talk about the evolution of this story and how the white house really set itself up for failure on this by the rose garden ceremony and honor and distinction. and the press wound up giving them what they had coming to them. >> well, i think journalisted felt snookerred by that. and i think it was a big backlash that helped fuel an effort to find out what really happened here. within 48 hours, megyn, you had nbc, cbs, "the washington post," a.p., not only doing stories about whether bowe bergdahl deserted but interviewing some of his fellow platoon members,

as you did megyn. in one case nbc interviewing the mother of a soldier who was killed while looking for bowe bergdahl. so i think the press actually did its job here, reported for duty. and try to find out and counter this white house spin that some guy was a returning hero. >> that interview with six platoon mates all raising their hands was a powerful moment for our viewers and for me personally as the anchor of the segment and really changed a lot of hearts and minds about what this guy really did. >> it was an iconic moment. i think the other networks sometimes aren't as aggressive on these kinds of stories i think it was driven in part by the fact you had veteran experienced, well-sourced pentagon correspondents. they know the military culture and they were able to find people. and they weren't going to be, you know, taken in by the white house line that these soldiers were in the words of chuck todd according to white house aides

being -- that they were swiftboating bowe bergdahl. referring to the orchestrated campaign against john kerry. no, i'm sorry. these soldiers told the truth, used their names, went on camera. and they were right putting them on the air or quoting them in print accounts was good journalism. >> howie kurtz, great to see you. see you sunday afternoon. >> thank you, megyn. >> media buzz. we'll be right back. premium every month on the dot. you're like the poster child for paying on time. and then one day you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? hey insurance companies, news flash. nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

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bowe bergdahl's former platoon members. also follow me on twitter. should the military prosecute bergdahl? and should he be honorably discharged? i'm megyn kelly. thanks for watching. welcome to "hannity." every year hundreds of thousands of college students all across america head out to a sunny destination for spring break. it's supposed to be time off from their studies, a little fun in the sun. but in reality it's a parent's worst nightmare. tonight in a "hannity" special spring break exposed, we're going to show you what really goes on. >> we are back. panama city beach. all these spring breakers are here and we're here to expose what they're doing.