White House Told Congress about bin Laden Raid, Not Bergdahl
BROWN: In Washington, it could be tough to keep a secret, but apparently it's easy to keep a secret from Congress. That's according to one Republican Congressman. 80 to 90 Obama administration officials knew about the plan to swap five Taliban members who were being held at Guantanamo Bay for captured U.S. soldier, Bowe Bergdahl. Earlier today, the White House said discretion was imperative.</s>JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And the reason for that is simple. This is a secret military mission, in which disclosure of the mission could put into jeopardy, not just the life of Sergeant Bergdahl, but also the lives of the American servicemen who were involved in the mission. So discretion of a -- discretion on this matter was important. And that's why the number of people who were aware of this military operation in advance was even smaller.</s>BROWN: Last night, after members of the full House were briefed, many of them emerged more angry over the White House's secret deal. And it appears many Americans also have doubts. According to a "CBS News" poll, 56 percent of Americans say the price was too high. And in that same poll, nearly three in four Americans say President Obama should have notified Congress before the deal was made. Joining me now to discuss this, Dana Bash, chief congressional correspondent. Great to have you here with us, Dana.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.</s>BROWN: Let's talk about this. One of the most sensitive operations ever undertaken, we're talking about taking down Osama bin Laden, Congress was told about it in secret, in the lead-up. So what's the difference now? Has Congress become less trustworthy?</s>BASH: Well, if you ask House Speaker John Boehner, who revealed today that he knew about the possibility of the bin Laden raid six months beforehand, there's not much of a difference, in that the bottom line is that Congress, if it's top-secret, can keep a secret. The White House argues that they gave the Congress similar heads-up about these raids in general. On the one hand, yes, they gave Congress information about what was going to go on with bin Laden, but didn't tell them, you know, in the days before that it was going to happen right away. Same thing with Bergdahl. There are major differences, though, as you know, Pam. Primarily, when you're talking about the bin Laden raid, that was a military operation and that was the end of it. You're talking about what happened with Bergdahl, it was a political decision, and a political deal that they made. Military operation, plus the very controversial decision to release the prisoners. So in talking to many sources, that is why they think, on capitol hill, Congress was not informed right beforehand. Not so much because of a trust issue, but because when they had told them about the idea of this back in the end of 2011, in a bipartisan way, many people in Congress thought it was a bad idea. So the suspicion, very strong suspicion, in a bipartisan way, is that's the reason why they didn't come to Congress in the days before this actually happened.</s>BROWN: And, Dana, House Speaker John Boehner had something else to say today. Let's take a listen to what he said.</s>REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're glad that Bergdahl is back. But the biggest issue here is the violation of a policy that the United States has had for many, many years that we don't negotiate with terrorists. And the fact is that we have violated that policy. And as a result, we've made Americans less safe here and all around the world. And we're going to pay for this. There is not any doubt in my mind, there are going to be costs of lives associated -- lost lives associated with what came out of this.</s>BASH: Pam, just as I was saying before you played that sound bite, if you want to know what kind of resistance you had on Capitol Hill, that really speaks to it. People thought it was a terrible idea in private and in classified settings beforehand. Now you're hearing the House speaker do it. It should be underscored we hear a lot of partisan rhetoric, a lot of it, and you might sort of -- it might go over people's heads. But just to hear the House speaker effectively say the president put Americans in harm's way with this swap is pretty chilling.</s>BROWN: Yeah, a strong statement. That's for sure. Dana Bash, thank you very much for breaking it down for us. Up next on NEWSROOM, police scheduled to hold a news conference any moment now on the shooting at a high school in Oregon we've been telling you about. One student has died. What happened inside? We're going to bring it to you live right after this break.