A pair of Republican congressmen are calling on President Barack Obama to refuse Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's pardon request, The Hill reports.
"Desertion and misbehavior before the enemy are extremely serious charges," Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) wrote to the president in a letter sent Tuesday.
"A pre-emptive pardon for Bowe Bergdahl would seriously undermine the military-court martial process and send the wrong message to hundreds of thousands of men and women in uniform who have served honorably in combat.
"The Uniform Code of Military Justice and the military court-martial process are essential to maintaining good order and discipline within the U.S. military, especially during a time of war," Coffman wrote. "His actions must be judged the by the pending court-martial."
One of Coffman's fellow members of the GOP joined him in his call.
"It has been seven years since Sgt. Bergdahl chose to abandon his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan during a time of war," Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said in a statement. "He should be court-martialed and held accountable."
Republican President-elect Donald Trump said a year ago that Bergdahl deserved capital punishment for leaving his post in Afghanistan in 2009, after which he was held prisoner by the Taliban until the United States agreed to trade him in a prisoner swap in 2014.
"We're tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who's a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed," Trump said during an October 2015 rally. "Thirty years ago, he would have been shot."
In mid-November, Bergdahl's attorney's announced a plan to seek to dismiss the charges once Trump's administration begins, arguing that Trump's remarks on their client compromised Bergdahl's right to a fair trial and an impartial jury, according to the Hill.
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