NBC News said earlier on Tuesday that Bergdahl would be charged
with desertion, citing senior defense officials.
Major General Ronald Lewis, the Army's head of public affairs, said
that report, and another from Fox News, were "patently false."
"To be clear there have been no actions or decisions on the Sergeant
Bergdahl investigation," Lewis said in a statement.
"The investigation is still with the commanding general of U.S. Army
Forces Command (General Mark Milley) who will determine appropriate
action - which ranges from no further action to convening a
court-martial," he added.
The Pentagon's press secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, told a news
conference that no decision had been made in the case and said
Milley was under no pressure to make a decision on any timeline.
Top defense officials are sensitive about exercising any undue
influence on officers responsible for cases in the military legal
system.
Bergdahl, who spent five years in captivity after leaving his post,
was released in May in an exchange with the Taliban for five inmates
from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The deal was blasted
by some Republicans, and some of his fellow soldiers called him a
deserter.
General Milley received the findings of Army investigators late last
month, is reviewing them and has not publicly indicated whether
charges will be filed, said Jim Hinnant, a spokesman for U.S. Forces
Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Milley is expected to make a decision soon on whether the findings
merit a court-martial or some form of administrative punishment. The
general also could decide no action against Bergdahl is warranted.
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"There is no timeline to make that decision and General Milley is
not being put under pressure to make a decision either way," Kirby
told reporters.
Bergdahl's attorney, New Haven, Connecticut-based Eugene Fidell,
declined to comment on the media reports.
If officials conclude that Bergdahl broke U.S. military law, they
could force him to forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars in back
pay accumulated during his captivity and give up future benefits.
Bergdahl is stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he
is working as a clerk.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Alexander; Additional reporting
by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio, Texas; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Bill
Trott and Jonathan Oatis)
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