The defense attorneys for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl sent a letter Saturday to Donald Trump. They want an interview with the Republican presidential candidate, who has previously called their client a "no-good traitor who should have been executed."
"I request to interview you as soon as possible about your comments about Sergeant Bergdahl during frequent appearances in front of large audiences in advance of his court-martial," states the letter, signed by Bergdahl attorney Lt. Col. Franklin Rosenblatt. "Based on your personal knowledge of matters that are relevant to Sergeant Bergdahl's right to a fair trial, this interview will help us determine whether to seek a deposition ... or your personal appearance as a witness ..."
Bergdahl disappeared from Combat Outpost Mest-Lalak in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on June 30, 2009. He has been accused of leaving his patrol base alone and intentionally before he was captured by Taliban insurgents.
He spent five years as a captive under the Taliban before he was freed in a controversial May 31, 2014, prisoner swap that also freed five Taliban leaders from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Bergdahl is now assigned to a desk job at U.S. Army North at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
He was charged on March 25 with one count of desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty, and one count of misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place.
Rosenblatt said the interview should last fewer than two hours. "I will try to keep it as short as possible in light of your busy schedule," Rosenblatt said.
Another Bergdahl attorney, Eugene Fidell, has said Trump's comments could interfere with Bergdahl's case.
"This is the lowest kind of demagoguery," Fidell told Army Times last year, in response to repeated remarks from Trump that Bergdahl was a traitor. "Mr. Trump's comments are contemptible and un-American. They are a call for mob justice."
A request for comment from Trump's campaign was not immediately returned.
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