Representative Buck McKeon, chairman for the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said he invited Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to testify at a hearing on June 11 in regards to the transfer of Taliban detainees in exchange for the release of U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, according to The Associated Press.
"We are all relieved that Sergeant Bergdahl has come home to us safely," McKeon said in a statement, the AP reported. "However, we have a responsibility to both the American people and the troops still in harm's way in Afghanistan to get to the bottom of this deal with the Taliban."
The White House has apologized to key lawmakers for not notifying them in advance about the exchange of five Taliban detainees for Bergdahl, according to the AP.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the top Democrat and Republican respectively on the Senate Select committee on Intelligence, said White House officials called them Monday to say the lack of notification had been an oversight, the AP reported.
Feinstein said she received a call from Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken, but the White House did not immediately comment on the calls, according to the AP.
The White House damage control comes as Republican lawmakers accused the White House of putting U.S. service men and women at risk by releasing the five top Taliban members being held in Guantanamo in exchange for Bergdahl, the AP reported.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Army could still charge Bergdahl as criticism mounted in Congress about releasing the five high-level Taliban detainees, according to the AP.
The Army might still pursue an investigation, Dempsey said, and those results could conceivably lead to desertion or other charges, the AP reported.
