Bowe Bergdahl Motion to Expedite Hearing

7/24/2019 Bowe Bergdahl Motion to Expedite Hearing

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALSFOR THE ARMED FORCES

Sergeant ROBERT B. BERGDAHL, ) MOTION FOR EXPEDITED HEARING

U.S. Army, ))Appellant, )

)v. )

)PETER Q. BURKE, )Lieutenant Colonel, AG, )U.S. Army, )in his official capacity as )Commander, Special Troops )Battalion, U. S. Army Forces )Command, Fort Bragg, NC, and )Special Court-Martial )Convening Authority, )

)and )

) Crim. App. Misc. Dkt.UNITED STATES, ) No. 20150624

)Appellees. ) USCA Dkt. No. 16-0059/AR

TO THE HONORABLE, THE JUDGES OF THE UNITED STATESCOURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ARMED FORCES:

This case, Hearst Newspapers, LLC v. Abrams, No. 16-0116/AR,

and Bergdahl v. Abrams, No. 16-0119/AR raise related issues.

Briefing is complete in this case and will be complete in the

other two just after Thanksgiving. As he did yesterday in No.

16-0119/AR, Sergeant Bergdahl respectfully requests expedited

hearing in accordance with Rule 19(e), which provides that the

Court, will, whenever practicable, give priority to writ-

appeal petitions.


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The passage of time is materially prejudicial to SGT Berg-

dahl. As we explained in moving for an expedited hearing in No.

16-0119/AR, Donald Trump, the leading contender for the Republi-

can nomination for President of the United States, has repeated-

ly described SGT Bergdahl as a traitor. Mr. Trump has continued

to do so even after we complained on August 20, 2015 that this

language is defamatory and used with reckless disregard for the

truth.

The following table lists the knownoccasions on which Mr.

Trump has defamed SGT Bergdahl, including as recently as last

Wednesday:

Date Venue State-

ment

Source

Apr.9,2015

Breit-bartNews in-terview

Traitor http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/04/09/exclusive-donald-trump-obama-totally-out-negotiated-by-iran-taliban-virtually-every-country-

in-the-world/Apr.23,2015

The JohnFreder-icksShow, VA(radio)

Traitor,lost 5or 6lives

http://www.johnfredericksradio.com/political-insighter-trump-unplugged-on-the-john-fredericks-show/

June16,2015

Campaignlaunch,NYC

Traitor,no-goodtraitor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/06/16/full-text-donald-trump-announces-a-presidential-bid/

July

21,2015

Bluff-

ton, SC

No-good,

rottentraitor

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-

meter/statements/2015/jul/23/donald-trump/trump-guantanamo-prisoners-swapped-bowe-bergdahl-a/

Aug.6,2015

GOP De-bate I,FoxNews,Cleve-

Dirty,rottentraitor;6 killed

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4406746003001/watch-a-replay-of-fox-news-prime-time-presidential-debate/?#sp=show-clips


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land, OHAug.19,2015

Derry,NH

Dirty,rottentraitor;6 killed

http://www.wsj.com/video/trump-bergdahl-a-dirty-rotten-traitor/F83D4013-58A3-4A8E-BE95-74DAC2A03BB1.html

Aug.21,2015

Mobile,AL Traitor;at least6 killed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-audacious-southern-spectacle-is-part-of-his-strategy/2015/08/21/31da2a88-4812-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html

Aug.27,2015

Green-ville,SC

6 died;he wentto theotherside

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/252125-trump-univision-anchor-is-a-lunatic

Oct.8,2015

Las Ve-gas, NV

No-goodtraitor

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/256437-trump-says-bergdahl-should-be-executed

Oct.26,2015

Atkin-son, NH

Dirtyrottentraitor

http://nhpr.org/post/trumps-targets-media-carson-and-obama-order

Nov.3,2015

GMA,ABC, NewYork, NY

TraitorX2

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/donald-trump-discusses-family-crippled-america-34933000

Nov.10,2015

Spring-field,IL,49:54ff

Dirty,rottentraitor,6 peoplediedlookingfor him

http://wuis.org/post/trump-rally-highlights-and-his-full-remarks#stream/0

Nov.11,2015

Manches-ter, NH

Dirty,rottentraitor

http://www.wmur.com/politics/after-strong-debate-trump-makes-early-morning-appearance-at-recordsetting-politics-and-eggs-event/36388534

Nov.12,2015

FortDodge,IA,23:19ff

No good,dirty,rottentraitor

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/11/13/the-most-stunning-quotes-from-donald-trump-iowa-re-

marks/uoGOHlWclQhWERGMYEIO5J/story.htmlNov.16,2015

Knox-ville,TN

Dirty,rottentraitor

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/17/donald-trump-vows-bomb-s-isis-ridicules-weakness-obama-clinton/

Nov.18,2015

Worces-ter, MA

Dirty,rottentraitor

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/18/nine-


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things-that-happened-during-donald-trumps-visit-to-worcester/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_pp-trump-115am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/18/watch-live-donald-trump-hosts-rally-worces-ter/a444uyJfI6yU9uvg6G7hnK/story.html

The First Amendment rules out any effort to prevent Mr.

Trump from making these defamatory remarks. The fact remains,

however, that his pattern of doing so, with the full glare of

public attention before mass audiences around the country, mate-

rially threatens SGT Bergdahls right to fair consideration by

the convening authority as well as in a court-martial, if any

charges are in the end referred.

SGT Bergdahl is not in a position either to sue Mr. Trump

at this time, or to make public statements, demand the micro-

phone or hog the camera as Mr. Trump continues to do. All SGT

Bergdahl hopes for is something more closely approximating a

level playing field in the court of public opinion by ensuring

that the public has access without further delay to the unclas-

sified AR 15-6 report prepared last year by Major General (as he

then was) Kenneth R. Dahl as well as the unclassified transcript

of his interview with General Dahl. As we observed last month:


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Mr. Trump and the echo chamber that has amplified hisvoice beyond all reason have a right to free speech.Simple fairness demands that SGT Bergdahl at least beable to defend himself by permitting public access inreal time to documents that put the lie to the kind of

character assassination to which he is being subjected.

The passage of time has permitted Mr. Trump to continue to

beat up, defame and generally vilify SGT Bergdahl most unfairly.

The Court should set the case down for hearing in December.

We made a similar motion yesterday in No. 16-0119/AR.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Eugene R. FidellEugene R. FidellCAAF Bar No. 13979Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP1129 20th Street, N.W., Ste. 400Washington, DC 20036(202) 256-8675 (cellphone)[email protected]

Civilian Defense Counsel

/s/ Franklin D. RosenblattFranklin D. RosenblattLieutenant Colonel, JACAAF Bar No. 36564U.S. Army Trial Defense Service9275 Gunston Road, Suite 3100Fort Belvoir, VA [email protected](703) 693-0283

Individual Military Counsel

/s/ Alfredo N. Foster, Jr.Alfredo N. Foster, Jr.Captain, JACAAF Bar No. 36628U.S. Army Trial Defense ServiceFt. Sam Houston


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Joint Base San Antonio, TX [email protected](210) 295-9742

Detailed Defense Counsel

/s/ Jonathan F. PotterJonathan F. PotterLieutenant Colonel, JACAAF Bar No. 26450Defense Appellate [email protected](703) 695-9853

Appellate Defense Counsel

Certificate of Filing and Service

I certify that I have, this 21st day of November, 2015

filed and served the foregoing motion by emailing copies to the

Clerk of Court and all counsel at the following email addresses:

[email protected]@[email protected]

[email protected] (Diego Ibarguen, Hearst et al.)[email protected] (Jennifer D. Bishop, Hearst et al.)[email protected] (Shayana Kadidal, CCR)[email protected] (Rachel VanLandingham, NIMJ)[email protected] (Philip D. Cave, NIMJ)[email protected] (Daniel Kummer, NBC)

Eugene R. FidellCivilian Defense Counsel

Documents

Bowe Bergdahl Motion to Expedite Hearing