GOP report: Administration misled Congress on Bergdahl swap

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are claiming in a new report that the Obama administration misled Congress about the effort to release five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the militant group for nearly five years.

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee released a 98-page report Wednesday on its inquiry into the case of the so-called Taliban Five after lawmakers expressed outrage that the Obama administration did not give Congress a 30-day notice about transferring the detainees to Qatar, as required by law.

When news reports surfaced hinting at a swap, the report said administration officials told lawmakers that the U.S. was not engaged in direct negotiations with the Taliban, which was true because the Qataris were acting as intermediaries.

The report said that after appearing before the Senate, the State Department official got on a plane to Qatar to work on the release.

[...] the committee Republicans said they do "not have confidence" that the Defense Department has clearly established who is responsible for making sure that Qatar abides by a memorandum of understanding it signed with the U.S. outlining how it would monitor the activities of the five after their release.

—On May 12, 2014 — more than two weeks before the transfer — four officials from Qatar and various U.S. administration officials attended a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.