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Army Investigation of Sergeant Robert Bowe Bergdahl's 2009 Disappearance In Afghanistan Released; One Black Box From Gremanwings Plane Found; Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 25, 2015 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00] BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There will be a lot of evidence, a lot of statements that could be very difficult for the army to deal with before the American public. What was going on in that unit? How did a commander not know that he had a soldier who was possibly not fit for duty, who was planning to walk away? Soldiers have said that Bergdahl made a lot of statements. Did the commanding officer in that small unit on the front line know what was going on in their unit? What was the state of morale? Will these soldiers who made these statements be willing to come back and testify under oath? I think we're about to hear from the -

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Yes, let's go to Fort Bragg.

COL. DANIEL J.W. KING, SPOKESMAN, U.S. ARMY FORCES COMMAND: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for coming to Ft. Bragg today. I'm Colonel Daniel J.W. King, spokesman for U.S. army forces command. And I'll provide you with a statement with regard to the army's investigation of Sergeant Robert Bowdry Bergdahl's 2009 disappearance in Afghanistan.

Due to the specific and legal nature of the information I'm about to provide, I'm unable to take your questions, but our staff here will provide you with a copy of this statement and points of contact to address your questions at the conclusion of this statement.

Our statement follows. The U.S. army forces command has thoroughly reviewed the army's investigation surrounding Sergeant Robert Bowdary Bergdahl's disappearance in 2009 disappearance in Afghanistan and formally charge Sergeant Bergdahl under the armed forces military code of justice on March 25, 2015 with desertion, with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty and misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place and has referred the case to an article 32 preliminary hearing.

Again, Sergeant Bergdahl is charged under the uniform code of military justice with one count of article 85, desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty, and one count of article 99, misbehavior before the enemy be endangering the safety of a command, unit or place. As you recall, Sergeant Bergdahl disappeared June 30th, 2009, from combat outpost in Paktika province, Afghanistan, and was subsequently captured.

Regarding next steps, an article 32 preliminary hearing is a legal procedure under the union form code of military justice designed to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to merit a court- martial and is required before a case can be tried by a general court- martial. Legal experts often compare an article 32 preliminary hearing to a civilian grand jury inquiry.

The article 32 hearing will take place at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, specific scheduling details and procedures for news media coverage of the hearing will be announced at a later date. Following the article 32 preliminary hearing and receipt of the article 32 preliminary hearing officer's recommendations, the report will be forwarded to a general court-martial convening authority who may refer the case to a general court-martial, refer the charges to a special court-martial, dismiss the charges or take any other action deemed appropriate.

There are potential punishments associated with the two charges. Article 85 of the uniform code of military justice, desertion with intention to shirk, import or hazardous duty, carries a maximum potential punishment of a dishonorable discharge, reduction to the rank of E-1, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a maximum confinement of five years.

Article 99 of the uniform code of military justice, misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place, carries a maximum potential penalty of a dishonorable discharge, reduction to the rank of E-1, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances and possible confinement for life.

The specific legal element associated with article 85 and article 99 are available within the written statement provided to you here today. Forces command officials associated with this legal case cannot discuss or disclose the findings of the 2014 investigation while legal actions are pending out of respect for the judicial process, the rights of the accused and to ensure the proceeding's fairness and impartiality. The army's 2014 investigation into the circumstances of the soldier's 2009 disappearance and capture in Afghanistan is currently being treated as potential evidence in the pending article 32 preliminary hearing. This concludes our statement. Thank you.

[15:35:56] BALDWIN: All right. So as we've been reporting, we've now officially heard it from Ft. Bragg that sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has been charged with desertion and also with misbehavior before the enemy.

Let's talk about as we heard him run through potential maximum punishments here. But we obviously have to have the military judicial system run its course. Let me go to the Pentagon just on the back end of that with Barbara Starr.

And Barbara, you know, as you have explained and we have multiple guests to parse this with me, basically this goes to, this article about32 hearing which is like a preliminary hearing, and that is when they have to determine if there is probable cause, right? This is when, obviously, they have to have enough evidence to proceed with these charges.

STARR: An article about32 is exactly what was expected once we heard the charge of desertion because it is so serious. So the article 32 is analogous in civilian justice system to a grand jury proceeding.

However, the authority that will run the article 32 can call witnesses, witnesses can be cross-examined, defense counsel has been explained to me can cross-examine witnesses. This will be a full airing of the evidence at hand. Then that convening authority, essentially the presiding officer, at the article 32, he hears all the evidence, takes it into account and can make several decisions, could decide there isn't enough evidence, could decide to do nothing, could decide to send it to a special courts-martial, something lesser than a full blown trial. It would be a way, presumably to get Bergdahl out of the military with very little public fuss about it.

But at the top of the list is that phrase, a general courts-martial. That is a full blown criminal proceeding. That is where he would essentially go to trial, all the evidence would be heard again because, if it goes to that stage, that means the military justice system believes they have enough evidence for a reasonable chance of conviction.

I think it's very important there were a couple of key words in there. Talking about going to that general courts-martial, they really laid out that that is a potential option as Colonel King from Ft. Bragg was running through the potential penalties. He talked about forfeiture of pay. That is no small matter. Under standard procedure Bergdahl collected hundreds of thousands of dollars of back pay during the five years he was being held in Afghanistan by the militants. That is standard procedure. But in order to hold him accountable for what he did, I've already heard people talk about it, you've got to get his pay back. You can't let him leave the army with that pay.

So a lot of things here looking for the mechanisms to hold this soldier accountable. Would he face life in detention, life in a military prison? That looks like Colonel King laid that out as the ultimate penalty. People have talked about the death penalty for desertion. Very specifically Colonel King did not refer to that.

BALDWIN: He did not mention that. That absolutely stood out to me as well. The harshest penalty under that second charge being life, life in confinement.

So to you, Anita Gorecki-Robbins, former federal prosecutor both used to be a defense lawyer in the army, you know, Barbara perfectly laid out how this would all potentially proceed, but at any point in time, could a deal be brokered here?

ANITA GORECKI-ROBBINS, FORMER ARMY SENIOR DEFENSE COUNSEL: Exactly. Many times when I would have a client facing a general court-martial, we would obviously approach the prosecutor, what we call trial counsel in the army and come up with a plea deal that basically would mean my client is no longer going to a general court-martial but now going to, Barbara talked about, a special court-martial which is more equivalent to like a misdemeanor where your max penalty is a year.

So it is during this phase that they may potentially be looking for a plea deal. Because to avoid the preliminary hearing, the article 32 saves the government witness, time, money and expense. So yes, I assume that the defense at this point is trying to figure out what they want to do once they receive discovery.

[15:40:06] BALDWIN: And then David Rohde, to you, because I feel like this is -- you almost have to look at this with two different ways - are two different narratives. You have what's happening with Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. But then you also have this prisoner swap, which is part of this administration. It was last May that the Obama administration agreed to take those five members of the Taliban who has down at Guantanamo Bay, swap them. We've all seen the video here, for Bowe Bergdahl there in this undisclosed area of Afghanistan. Much criticism on the administration for this willingness to do a swap. And now with this charge of desertion here, I know the president said, you know, essentially leave no soldier behind. But what are the implications here for the administration, for the Pentagon?

DAVID RHODE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it is an awkward time. I mean, as was referenced earlier, this is going on while the new president of Afghanistan is in Washington and the new president of Afghanistan and the administration is trying to tell the American public that there's a more serious effort now, a better partner in Afghanistan. So it's awkward in that sense.

I think there's a very high chance of some kind of plea deal here, as Barbara said, they don't want things to, you know, this is embarrassing, there is questions about what happened in his unit. But I also, and just from a personal sense and I'm biased. I was held by the same people, the Hakani network for seven months. Bowe was held, you know, by them for five years. You know, he walked off that base. He deserves to be held responsible for it. But I guarantee you he regretted it every day of the five years he was in captivity. There's been an effort by some to really vilify this man and this family. You know, he made an enormous mistake. He should be held accountable for it. But, you know, I'll be shocked if there isn't a plea bargain here. And I will be disappointed the real effort to attack him personally.

BALDWIN: To David's point, Colonel Mann, I mean, you have those who also, you know, on the opposite end are vilifying him, again, this is someone who was held, you know, for five years by terrorists. Is that not -- this is what some say, is that not punishment enough?

LT. COL. SCOTT MANN (RET.), U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCE: Well, you know, no. I mean, if he is found guilty of desertion, which we don't. I mean, we need to let the process play out, then, you know, that crime holds with it its own penalty. And you know, I certainly think that that will play out the way it's supposed to.

What concerns me more than anything else about this is that it's becoming such an issue right now that it could actually cause us to lose focus on the thousands of men and women that are over there still fighting right now. You know, that they have done multiple tours over there. And like I said earlier with President Ghani here in the United States, were at a critical juncture right now with what our follow-on policy is going to be in Afghanistan.

And I think what we got to watch here is not letting, you know, it's a bad thing desertion, if he's found to have done that, but there's much larger strategic fish to fry here in Afghanistan.

BALDWIN: And finally, just Ed Lavandera wrapping this up, we know that Bowe Bergdahl has been, he had a job at this location in San Antonio, Texas. What has he been doing these last however many months? Has he been exposed to members of the public? How has he been living?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We understand he's at Ft. Sam Houston, which interestingly enough you heard the colonel there in Ft. Bragg say that this is where these proceedings will take place. So everything will happen very close to where he currently is. He was brought straight to San Antonio, Texas, after he was brought from Germany to the United States. And he's essentially been in an administrative job. And have I've talked to legal analyst here in Texas who say basically they just found a job for him to kind of buy the time to get to this point to figure out what exactly the army was going to do with him. But all of this, he's been living inside of Ft. Sam Houston in the barracks there.

As far as we know from what we've been told he's gotten to the point where he could come and go as he pleased, if he wanted to go to a movie theater or grocery store there in San Antonio. It's not out of the realm that, you know, people might have seen him around at this point. But everything from here on out in terms of a legal proceedings will happen very close to where he's been since last summer where he will continue to be held.

I guess the question we have now is will he continue to go along with that work, is he taken into custody? You know, what exactly happens with him from here on out? Does any kind of change in his status take place?

GORECKI-ROBBINS: I don't find it likely.

LAVANDERA: We don't know the answers for that.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Anita.

GORECKI-ROBBINS: Yes, I don't find it likely based on my experience that they're going to -- he's not arguably flight risk we can talk about. But he's been there. He has been showing up to work presumably. He's with his defense counsel. I don't think they're going to put him in pretrial confinement.

And the last point, to Barbara's point, is the article 32 officer, the person who is going to hear this is not necessarily a legal person or a judge. They're simply going to take -- it could be an infantry officer, it could be a field artillery officer, it could be a medical officer which is what Ft. Sam is known for. So it is not a legal person that will more likely than not be hearing this case. It will be a lay person that will decide whether this case should be bound over for general court-martial.

[15:45:11] BALDWIN: Anita Gorecki-Robbins, Ed Lavandera, Barbara Star, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann and David Rohde, my thanks to all of you as we have now officially learned if these charges. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl will be facing desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

Coming up next, our other breaking news story, the plane crash in the French Alps. We've just learned today that investigators did manage to recover that audio chip from one of those black boxes that cockpit voice recorder. This is key. We will talk about that on the other side of the break. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:02] BALDWIN: Let's take you back to this plane that has gone down in the French Alps and the mystery surrounding all of this. This airbus carrying 150 people now just in pieces. No piece of debris larger than a small car there in the French mountainous region.

On the left side of the screen, the actual Germanwings airbus A320 that went down Tuesday. On the right, the conditions and the investigators now. These images obviously really resonating with a soccer team from Sweden because this team has actually supposed to be on that plane to get back to Sweden via Dusseldorf in Germany. That's where it was supposed to land. The last minute the team decided the layover in Dusseldorf was too long. So the team members actually split up and took three other planes home. Many of their family members actually didn't know of their last minute flight change. The goal keeper talked to us here at CNN and explained what happened after he got to Stockholm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We switched on our phones we had like 100 missed calls from families and relatives, friends. We had to call everyone and calm them down. That's one of the things I think of now, all the ones who made the same calls but didn't get any answers. It's hard to put words on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hard to put words, feeling thankful they didn't get on the plane. But now to a town in Germany that is definitely reeling. Our senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is near the school where the memorial, this vigil has been growing behind him. I see the flickering light of some of those candles, Fred. And now, at least know that some of the family members will be able to get on that plane tomorrow to get as close as they possibly can to that crash site.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: yes, Brooke. And actually I have a feeling a lot of the family members here of these 16 school children who were killed as well as the relatives of the two teachers who were also on board that flight, a lot of them are going to make that trip because one of the senses that we have been getting here from the town of Haltern (ph) today is that many people, they simply want information. They want to know what exactly happened. They want more information. Also they want to try and get some sort of closure in all of this.

This is certainly a town that very much is reeling. You see the memorial behind me all day. People have been coming out here. Let's have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Overwhelmed by pain and sorrow, many of those coming to the makeshift memorial at the Joseph Koenig School are in tears, mourning the loss of 16 students and two teachers. Philipa and her mother Jovika (ph) were close to the victims.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew all of them. They were all in my grade. To some I was very close. And yes, there was one good friend of me or so. We already planned things for the future, what we're going to do when they returned from their trip.

PLEITGEN: This is a tight-knit community. The crash has jolted this otherwise sleepy town and left many of its young people fighting the agony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's very important to be together with them so everyone can support each other and say that everything is going to be fine somehow, although nobody thinks so.

PLEITGEN: People here say they were devastated when they heard that flight 4U9525 had crashed and saw the images of the impact site in southern France. Emergency psychological counselors are here all the time providing help to those who need it.

As this town continues to mourn and grieve and more and more people come to the sea of flowers and candles, people here are also demanding answers. They want to know how it can be that so many of their friends and loved ones were taken from them so violently as they were returning from their school trip.

But for now, officials are asking for patience as the investigation continues. Laltem (ph) city hall has been turned into a crisis center, the mayor running the operation clearly moved by the events.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here and I can talk with people and with the parents and the brothers and sisters. The only thing that I can do is to be here.

PLEITGEN: Back at the Joseph Koenig School, that help is appreciated but clearly will take more time for the people of this town to overcome the disaster that has hit their community.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And so, Brooke, it clearly is a very sad time in this town, a very hard time for the people here. But also, I have to say a lot of the people here are now banding together. They are getting a lot closer than they ever have been before. There was one woman that I spoke to earlier today who said that she speaks a lot to the parents of the children who were killed in this incident. She said she sees it as her mission, if you will, to stand by these people and help them through these tough, trying times, Brooke.

[15:55:10] BALDWIN: I know that is a small city. And you have been reporting that every single person there knew someone who is touched by this.

Fred Pleitgen, my thanks to you.

You know, 18 different nationalities, that what we have learned in that news conference, 18 different nationalities represented on board this plane here. So the priority for investigators and also as we heard from the CEO both of Germanwings and Lufthansa, the focus is on the families and secondarily it is the why, it is the investigation. So let's talk once again to our CNN aviation analyst, Les Abend. Les is also a Boeing 777 airline captain and contributing editor to "Flying" magazine.

So first, I'm just -- we are all so mindful of these loved ones who some of whom will be going, this plane will be provided to them tomorrow to travel as close as they possibly can get to this crash site. I mean, it's impossible to actually reach the site. It's impossible to land helicopters there, let alone get all the family members anywhere near. It was obviously all roped off. But is it just a matter of being as close as they possibly can to the remains?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It is. It is part of the grieving process and having been trained in critical stress management for my own airline, it's just the ability to get in close proximity, you know, where you lost people or have a memory is very important to them. Whether or not logistically they will take up some of these families to see the aerial view, I don't know. But certainly they are not going to be bringing back anything from the crash site. You know, of that nature. But it's just the fact of being there, I think, is what is important to those families.

BALDWIN: Also hearing from the CEO of Lufthansa, I agree with you, just incredibly sincere it seemed in his remarks earlier saying he was a pilot, this has never happened to any of the Lufthansa planes, crews, for it to crash. In terms of figuring out the why, you have these different black boxes, you have the flight data recorder and you have the cockpit voice recorder. They managed to find the chip of the cockpit voice recorder. We know that they have heard voices, they have heard sounds.

And what's interesting to me, that people at home may not realize as they're listening, different alarm bells go off for different issues, right? They will be able to hear what's happening to hopefully put connect the dots.

ABEND: Yes, you are absolutely right. I mean, then you get a siren for a particular warning, you get a bell, electronic bell for another kind of warning. In addition to the fact different switches have different sounds, not that this would be a factor, but you know, the gear going up and down is certainly something that you can hear over what we call the cockpit area mic, literally a mic on the overhead panel of the airplane. You can hear tones. Lot of things that are involved, you know, with cockpit communication. You can hear the stress level that's involved with the situation. And if you are going through a check list, you will certainly know what check list they're going through and that will tell you what the nature of the emergency might have been. BALDWIN: What about the other black box? What about the flight data

recorder?

ABEND: Well, that's very important. And that's the other half of the puzzle.

BALDWIN: They feel very confident because they found the casing of the flight data recorder but it's the insides they haven't got yet.

ABEND: Yes. And I believe that during the press conference he said that wasn't necessarily so. There's kind of conflicting information on that. But that being said, I mean, one of the biggest pieces that was there was part of the tail section where the cockpit voice recorder was found that we know has some information on it or all the voices. But the digital flight data recorder is located in a little different section of the airplane than the cockpit voice recorder.

So, you know, with the way that airplane impacted the terrain, it may take a little sleuthing to try to find this. But the fact that the cockpit voice recorder was in enough of a piece that we should find the same situation with the digital flight data recorder also.

BALDWIN: These passengers on this plane, I just keep thinking if they were conscious in those ten minutes looking out the window, seeing the French Alps approaching, were they mindful of what was happening?

ABEND: It's possible. You know, in this day and age, a lot of passengers I'm sure you have been on plenty of flights yourself, the window shade is closed. Most people are paying attention, you know, to their laptops, you know, to their ipads, watching a movie.

BALDWIN: Maybe they had no idea.

ABEND: Maybe they had no idea.

BALDWIN: I mean, there was no distress call.

ABEND: No. They may have seen the Alps at an altitude that seemed a little bit lower than normal, but I'm not sure they really knew what was happening.

BALDWIN: Les Abend, thank you. I just been handed this, all this being handed to me. This is from one of the - this is statement from a family member of one of the Americans onboard. Let me end the just show and read this.

"Our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of Yvonne and Emily Selke. Two wonderful, caring, amazing people who meant so much to so many. At this difficult time, we respectfully ask for privacy and your prayers."

Well, our hearts and prayers go out to all the family members and friends of all 150 souls onboard. We're going to stay on this coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Let's send it to Washington. John Berman and THE LEAD starts right now.