Bergdahl to be court-martialed under new commander-in-chief
The likely Democratic nominee is already being criticized by Trump supporters for supporting the Taliban prisoner swap that brought Bergdahl home after five years in captivity.
Bergdahl's defense team, meanwhile, says the presumptive Republican nominee has already damaged the soldier's chances for a fair trial by calling him a "dirty, rotten traitor" who "should have been executed."
Lawyers will have to try to figure out whether the Army judge or jury deciding Bergdahl's fate have taken Trump's harsh comments to heart, said Eric Carpenter, a former Army helicopter pilot and lawyer who now teaches at Florida International University College of Law in Miami.
Nance also ruled that media organizations could hire a stenographer for the trial, and gave Army prosecutors one week to provide reporters with online access to court documents.
The Army's primary investigating officer recommended against jail time, saying he did not see evidence that any service members were killed or wounded while searching for him.