Bergdahl Agreement No Taliban Tracking Guarantee
CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. New information this morning about the deal that dropped five Taliban prisoners off in Qatar. The deal was, we thought, the Qataris would keep an eye on them, monitor them so we could avoid the obvious, which is them returning to the battlefield against the United States. But California Democrat Adam Schiff tells CNN, he's read the memorandum of understanding between Qatar and the United States and he doesn't understand it because it contains no guarantees that the Taliban leaders would be tracked. We have Congressman Schiff joining us from Washington right now. This is very important for several reasons and you have even more legitimacy on the issue because you are a Democrat and you are saying you have reservations about this deal. Why? What did you see in there or not see, Representative?</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: It's not that the Qataris are not going to try. There's no guarantee of success. They are going to make every effort to keep track of these guys for among other reasons it would be deeply embarrassing of the gunneries if they lose sight of these five. Even the Taliban leadership probably has incentive not to violate the deal because they have a relationship with the Qatari government. But notwithstanding those best efforts there's no guarantee that they will succeed and beyond that when the year is up, then I think really all bets are off and we have to prudently expect that some of them are going to return to the fight. That's what made this a very tough call by the president. I do respect that call. We have one commander-in-chief. We can't have 535 people trying to make this decision for him or collectively, but I think it was a very tough decision and I think we have to be mindful of the risks involved.</s>CUOMO: All right, but hold on because I hear a little bit of the administration bleeding through in that answer. You can't have 535 commanders-in-chief for sure, but there was a law in place here to consult with all 435 members here to get Congress behind this and it was avoided by the administration. So there is more burden on them to make the case, don't you think? When you look at the deal can you stand there, Representative, and say I stand by this deal. This is a good deal. There are good assurances in it?</s>SCHIFF: Look, I've said before, I think the administration should have consulted with Congress. I think they should have certainly informed the leadership in Congress when this was going forward. Constitutionally the president does have the power to do it without consulting with us under Article II so he acted within his constitutional authority. But that doesn't mean that it was wise not to bring confidence -- bring the Congress into his confidence about that. I think at least certainly the gang of eight of the top leadership should have been brought in. Notwithstanding that, in terms of the merits of the deal, we got an American back and we had to pay a stiff price for it. And that's why this deal, I think, is very tough. I can respect it. I think it was a tough call. I don't know that I would have made the same call but at the same time we have one commander-in-chief. And when the commander makes a tough decision, I think you stand by your commander-in-chief and I do.</s>CUOMO: Erin Burnett has gone there. She's been in Doha and Qatar. She says there's pretty broad-based support of the Taliban there, which does not suggest they're going to have hard line monitoring of these individuals, right? If it's unpopular at home why should we have any level of confidence that the Qatar authorities will do what we cannot?</s>SCHIFF: Look, I think they are going to make their best efforts. We have our own independent intelligence assets that we're going to put into play to try to keep track of these people. I think it would be deeply embarrassing if not humiliating for the Qataris do lose sight of these people. So I think they will try. The bigger problem is likely to come a year from now when they are allowed to travel and I think really all bets are off. But, you know, I don't think at the end of the day even though there's added risk here that it changes the equation that much in terms of the Taliban's power vis-a-vis the Afghan government. That's probably the broadest strategic consideration the president had in mind. We get an American back. The strategic situation doesn't change and that's probably why he made this hard call.</s>CUOMO: Look, I'm with you in terms of what the ultimate goal is and I actually think the administration's better argument here is that Gitmo is going to close. These guys are going to go back anyway. President Bush sent back hundreds of them. We don't know where any of them are. At least we have some strings on these guys. I think that's the compelling argument. But you're saying they're going to try their best and their best efforts. Where is that confidence come from? What record do we have of watching this foreign government or any foreign government other than Israel looking out for bad guys for the United States?</s>SCHIFF: Well, look, the record is not very supportive. Many of these people have gone back to the fight many times when governments have tried to so-called reform these people. They have not succeeded. So there are, as I say, there's no guarantee of success here and that's why this was a tough call. But I'm more concerned frankly of what happens a year from now from I am within the year. I think the combination of the efforts and our own will mitigate the risks. But they won't eliminate those risks all together.</s>CUOMO: I also hope you guys, Congressman, are keeping your eye on what's happening in Iraq right now because politically it's so popular to pull out the U.S. forces from Afghanistan and Iraq because it brings them back home, but we're seeing what the future may hold not just with these five Taliban guys, but what happens when the U.S. leaves a place that is inherently unstable. Thank you, Congressman Schiff, for joining us and giving us perspective on this deal, such as it is. Thank you. All right, Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: All right, Chris, thank you. Congressman, thank you for your time. Coming up next on NEW DAY, bumped off a flight and stuck in an airport overnight. We've all been there, but have we been there? This guy spent his time getting a little creative and now this video has gone viral. We will show you what he did in our must see moment of the morning.