[Cuomo:] Welcome back to NEW DAY. President Obama's offering no apologies for the deal he made to set free Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. This as criticism of the deal only seems to be growing louder, as do questions about Bergdahl's service record. Let's try to get some perspective here from what's going on with Bowe Bergdahl. Remember, he was held captive for five years. Bit of recovery from that alone will be very, very difficult indeed. And we're lucky to have joining us from Paris a man who understands this situation very well, Pentagon press secretary Real Admiral John Kirby. Admiral, thank you very much for joining us.
[Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary:] Thanks for having me, Chris.
[Cuomo:] Admiral, what do we understand about the current condition of Bowe Bergdahl, physically, mentally? What are you getting a sense of?
[Kirby:] Well, the doctors are telling us there in Germany that he's in stable condition and he's improving steadily every day. They're of course working very hard to bring him through this reintegration process carefully, in a measured, deliberate way. Nobody's going to go any faster than he's ready to go, but we do hear that he is improving, that he's engaging with the medical staff there, that he's talking. And so the signs with are in a positive direction right now.
[Cuomo:] To be clear for people who don't understand these types of situations as well and how could we really? Five years in captivity this is not the end for Bowe Bergdahl just because he's now free, right? The process of recovery is only beginning?
[Kirby:] I think that's exactly right, Chris. And, more importantly, the process will only go as fast as he and his doctors are ready to let it go. Nobody's going to be rushing him back into society and even back home. I think we're going to take our time; he's going to take his time. I mean, you have to remember and you pointed out that he was gone for five years in captivity, which I'm sure was harsh in all kinds of different ways. And he's going to need the time and space to reacquaint himself, to get a better handle on his emotions, his memories, and then eventually to be reunited with his family and his community back home. I think everybody is just going to have to be patient.
[Cuomo:] Let's see if you can help us with some of the fact sensitivity surrounding the circumstances of his disappearance and eventual capture. Do you believe at this point that he left of his own free will? Is it considered a desertion?
[Kirby:] The army has not declared him a deserter, Chris. There was an investigation done. It's a classified investigation so I'm not at liberty to talk about the details here. But I think, as Secretary McHugh and General Odierno made clear, the army is going to do a comprehensive review. They're going to look at his situation again, the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. And a key to that is going to be talking to Sergeant Bergdahl himself. Because there's really only one man who knows exactly what happened with respect to his disappearance and his captivity, and that's Sergeant Bergdahl himself.
[Cuomo:] What can you tell us about these points of reporting the speculation that Taliban radio traffic said that he was taken from the actual OP, from a latrine? The suggestion that he supposedly tried to escape captivity? And the suggestion that he disappeared twice before, once during training and once while in theater in Afghanistan? Can you address those points?
[Kirby:] Well, actually, what I can say is we're going to do a review. We're going to look at all of these things. The army is going to take a look at the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and I don't want to prejudge that and I don't want to get ahead of that. I don't think that would be fair to the army and it certainly wouldn't be fair to Sergeant Bergdahl.
[Cuomo:] The suggestion that he tried to escape, do you know that that is true?
[Kirby:] I don't have any facts pertaining to his time in captivity. We really have to get a chance to talk to Sergeant Bergdahl before we can start to prejudge or speculate about what the specifics of his captivity was like.
[Cuomo:] Now, of course, incident reports are done very painstakingly in the field. A lot of the people not a lot. People who served with him have come forward. They are distressed. They believe that men were killed in action searching for Bowe Bergdahl. The field reports seem to contradict that. What is the army's position?
[Kirby:] We do not have any indication at this time that there were specific casualties caused by his disappearance or the search for him in the aftermath. But, again, the army is going to review this. They're going to take and then we'll see where it goes. But I think it's really important that we don't rush to judgment here. And one of the things that everybody in the military fights for is the right of being innocent until proven guilty, a fair process, a due process, a chance to be heard out. And I think it's really unfortunate and frankly, I don't think it does anybody any favors for folks to be out there speculating and criticizing him when he hasn't even had a chance to tell his own side of the story. So I really think we need to, as I said at the outset, we need to be patient in terms of his reintegration back into society. We need to be patient in terms of the due process that he deserves.
[Cuomo:] And what do you make of the criticism of his parents by some in the media, really judging them and this situation kind of helping and cooperating and kind of encouraging Bowe Bergdahl not to live up to his duties? Is there any basis for any of that?
[Kirby:] There's no basis, Chris, that I've seen. I think it's reprehensible, frankly, to be dragging the family through this right now. I think they have enough on their plate. I think they're rightfully worried about their son and I think we need to give that family a little bit of space.
[Cuomo:] Amen to that. What perspective can you give on the deal itself? OK, we know these are bad guys. We know they're putting them back. We know there's no real ways to make sure they never reenter the fray. All of that has to be accepted as just a reasonable assumption. Why, in the estimation of the military,was this a deal worth making?
[Kirby:] Secretary of Defense has said it many times. He was comfortable with the decision that he made. He was comfortable with the assurances that we got from the Emir of Qatar, that this was in the national interest and the risk was substantially mitigated. The risk was substantially mitigated. Is it eliminated? No. It's of course not eliminated, you said that well yourself. But it is substantially mitigated. And while I can't go into the details of assurances that we got from the government of Qatar, again, the secretary believes that his concerns were satisfied and that this was in the national interest.
[Cuomo:] And if you can, just yesno me on this last one. It is our understanding that this decision, the exigency of it, doing it without notifying Congress, wasn't so much about the feelings of Bergdahl's health, but the sensitivity of the circumstances surrounding the trade, that it could fall apart and that his life would be in danger. Timing was of the essence, yes or no?
[Kirby:] Yes, timing was of the essence, Chris.
[Cuomo:] All right. Thank you very much for helping us advance the perspective on this. Obviously there's a lot of speculation out there. And when we can nail some of it down, it's very important to do that to keep proper perspective for the audience. Thank you very much, Admiral. Enjoy your time there on a very important day for America's history.
[Kirby:] It is a very important day, indeed. Thanks for having me, Chris.
[Cuomo:] Always a pleasure, sir. Kate?
[Bolduan:] Always good to have him. Coming up next on NEW DAY, new excerpts from Hillary Clinton's new book, offering a rare insight into her decision making, her thoughts on Bowe Bergdahl, Benghazi and Iraq. But what did she say about attacking Sarah Palin? That's coming up on Inside Politics.