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VIDEO: Bridenstine's Testy Exchange With Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

Some members of Congress aren't satisfied with the Obama Administration's justifications for the prisoner swap that led to freedom for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

At a House committee hearing Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla. 1) said the release of the five Guantanamo detainees in exchange for Bergdahl represents a victory for the Taliban.

http://youtu.be/T8uHgRFS3-4

“It is being used as propaganda against this country,” Bridenstine told Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. “Ultimately, these people are likely to return to the field of battle, and our troops will be in harm’s way because of it.”

Hagel conceded that the administration could have done a better job of keeping Congress informed, but he says the swap of five Taliban figures who'd been held at Guantanamo may have been the ``last, best'' chance to secure the release of the only U-S soldier held captive in Afghanistan.

“The morale boost turns into a physical threat,” Bridenstine said.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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