U.S. House Speaker Boehner backs call for hearings on Bergdahl swap -...

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House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, on Tuesday backed calls for congressional hearings on the decision to swap five Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo detention center for captured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

In a statement, the Republican Boehner described how President Barack Obama's administration had consulted with Congress more than two years ago about the possibility of such an operation. He said congressional leaders had expressed serious concerns about the plans, which were never satisfactorily answered.

"The administration has invited serious questions into how this exchange went down and the calculations the White House and relevant agencies made in moving forward without consulting Congress despite assurances it would re-engage with members on both sides of the aisle," Boehner said.

This comes as U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl remained in the care of an American military hospital in Germany on Tuesday (June 3), three days after his release from five-years in the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A day earlier, officials at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center said in a written statement that Bergdahl was "continuing his reintegration process" at Landstuhl "where he arrived at approximately 9 a.m. on June 1. The goal is to return him to family and society and on the path to complete recovery."

In Warsaw, U.S. President Barack Obama defended his administration's operation to rescue Bergdahl from Taliban captivity, saying the United States was committed to freeing its prisoners of war regardless of how they were captured.

Obama acknowledged that the Taliban fighters who were freed from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Bergdahl, could engage in efforts that were detrimental to U.S. security again.

He said he was confident the United States could go after those individuals if that were the case.

Bergdahl had not met with his family yet and was not being interrogated, Obama said.

REUTERS