>> black suvs carrying the detained people to qatar. they recommended detention for the five on the basis they pose a high risk to the u.s. and allies and if released are likely to return to terrorism. >> all five are basically rock stars in the jihad world and now to qatar, the taliban will use them in a propaganda campaign. >> five men including abdu abdul hag wasiq is an alleged intelligence operative. mohamed nabi is linked to the network in pakistan. it's alleged he facilitated the smuggling of fighters and weapons. mohammed fazl is wanted by the u.n. for possible war crimes. a senior taliban official khairullah khairkhwa, and hullah noori is a former taliban governor. >> i can tell you that the assurances were sufficient to allow the secretary of defense chuck hagel in coordination with the national security team to determine that the threat posed by the detained people to the united states would be mitigated. >> we report the more than any other american tv network and the tend since 2008 the number of detained people confirmed or suspected to return to the battle field is climbing one in three and the men were hand selected by the taliban as the men they were willing to negotiate for, sean. >> the position is clear, this was not a negotiation with terrorists, they are claiming, that they don't represent a threat to the u.s. and making the case, they specifically, the taliban specifically asked for these five guys. those are the five they wanted? >> these are the five individuals that were hand selected by the taliban in their statement on their website late sunday night. the taliban described this as a victory and as senior members of the organization and what is clear in the military assessments and there is nothing, sean, to indicate there has been a change is that all of the men were deemed high risk, high intelligence value and they should be the subject of continued military detention. >> kathryn, thank you and thanks for reporting all day and staying with us tonight. >> you're welcome. >> major concerns being raised about the prisoner swap and the precedence it sets. >> the question going forward is have we just put a price on other u.s. soldiers? does this tell terrorists? if you capture a u.s. soldier, you can trade them for five terrorists? that's dangerous. >> if you negotiate here, you send a message to every al qaeda group in the world that says, by the way, who are holding u.s. hostages today, that there is some value now in that hostage in a way that they didn't have before. that is dangerous. >> these are the hardest of the hard core. these are the highest, high risk people. it is disturbing that these individuals would have the ability to reenter the fight and they are big, high level people, possibly responsible for the deaths of thousands. >> not surprisingly, team obama is rushing to the defense of the president and denying wrongdoing including acquisitions that in fact they did negotiate with terrorists. watch this. >> you have negotiated with terrorists. >> we negotiated with the government of qatar to whom we oh a great debt but he was being held by the taliban. >> the government can be accused here in negotiating with terrorists. >> first of all, we didn't negotiate with terrorists, as i said and explained it before, sergeant bergdahl is a prisoner of war. that's a normal process. >> have the secretary of defense say we didn't negotiate with terrorists. the fact is he was held in an armed conflict with the taliban. we were engaged in an armed conflict with the taliban and we have a history in this country of making sure that our prisoners of war are returned to us. we don't leave them behind. he was not a hostage. he was a prisoner. >> here with reaction, utah congressman. >> how are you? >> they kept claiming we don't negotiate with terrorists, this is a third party and intermediary. they negotiated with terrorists. >> that's the honest truth. if he had made the case he was going to do that when he was debating john mccain or mitt romney, he would not be the president of the united states. >> if this was the dream team of terrorists being released, no past releases that we had that they have gone back into the field of battle, the question is why is jay carney, administration saying they pose no threat to the united states. >> this is their starting five. this is not the guys that went awry. these are terrorists, hard core terrorists responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. i've been to guantanamo bay twice. i've seen them. i'm telling you, this is devastating to our government. >> all right. let's look at the rate. we'll put it up on the "hannity" big board here at gitmo. we're talking about low level people we released but they are the worst of the worst. >> these are the people they covet the most. you think of the men and women that sacrificed their lives to get these people. we had them there in guantanamo bay. i don't know. it's just -- >> we'll get into the flat eath comments, whether or not he was a deserter. some reports suggest that. will this result in hostage taking? message did we send and why do you think this was a bad deal? >> to bring an american home is a good thing. good bless him. i hope he's okay. but is the united states better? is it more safe? is it more secure now that we did this? you got to do this in the silver light of day to make these non-emotional decisions. there is reason why the president was supposed to consult with congress. >> you believe the president broke the law? >> yes. >> jonathan believes the president broke the law. we'll have a debate about that. why? what was he supposed to do? >> there is a process and kons cushion in place. we passed a law. the president signed it into law. the president says it was unconstitutional which begs the question, why is the president signing a piece of legislation he thinks is unconstitutional. >> let's look at the family, a member of his platoon when he went missing in 2009 said the following here. i was pissed off then and i'm more pissed off more as it relates to beau bowe bergdahl and fellow americans lost their lives searching for him and a taliban leader, their spiritual leader saying quote, we shall thank the all mighty for this great victory that resulted in the release from our senior leaders from the hand of our enemy. >> we got one american back but gave up five. think about this, we have been for more than ten years fighting in afghanistan to dismantle this and we put them -- >> one year. >> by the way, when you saw them giving hugs and all happy. you didn't see them, they weren't having to go to the hospital and doing all these things? they were treated so nice. >> they get 1.5 doctors for every prisoner as we learned and meanwhile the own va, one doctor for every 35 members of the military supposed to be taken care of, right? let's go to this. "the new york post" had a report this weekend, the sunday paper, the days prior to his capture that bowe himself the sergeant wrote an e-mail saying i'm sorry for everything here. these people need help, yet, what they get is the most conceded country in the world, if we can put it up there, the most conceded country in the world telling them that they are nothing and they are stupid. it goes on, i'm ashamed to be an american and the title of u.s. soldier is the lie of fools. i'm sorry for everything, the horror of america is disgusting. should that influence our decision? >> we have a process. i hope the statements aren't true. we got an american, i want to bring him home, too. to give up five taliban and take the senior most leadership, the country is less safe. >> what will happen when we have americans die as a result of this? we'll get into this more deeply about the sergeant himself and -- but also about his father. he did in fact mention allah and thank him at the rose garden ceremony and sent out a tweet, i'm still working to free all gitmo prisoners, god will repay for the death of every afghan child. >> he's an american. i believe in his right to free speech. i may not agree with him, but he's from idaho and wants to make those comments, that's what we do in the united states. that's what is different about the united states and everywhere else. but it does beg the question of why did we trade five for one? why did we give up five of the senior most senior leaders? >> let me talk about the president himself. during the shut down, the president said he wouldn't negotiate during the shut down but yet, obviously negotiating here. let's look. >> we're not going to negotiate under the threat of further harm to the economy and middle class families. we'll not negotiate under the threat of a prolonged shut down until republicans get 100% of what they want. >> what i said to them is this, making sure that the united states government pays its bills, that's non-negotiable. >> will i not geguate over congress' responsibility to pay the bills it racked up. i do not know how to be more clear about this. >> i will not negotiate over congress' responsibility to pay the bills racked up. >> i will not negotiate over the full faith and credit of the united states. >> they won't negotiate with you guys but negotiate with the taliban, a third party intermediary. >> i work for the people of utah. i represent them in the united states congress. try to get a meeting with the president to talk about something of substance in this country to get jobs and the economy going again, fixing health care can't do it but the president will negotiate with the terrorists. >> you've been following benghazi. you argue we've been lied to about benghazi and did it consciously. they say they have it negotiated here and wouldn't. i think that's a high and the lie about health care, keeping your doctor, keeping your plan and saving money. we've been lied to a lot. >> we gave more than 2,000 ak-47s in fast and furious and can't seem to get the dock thes from the department of justice. you keep going down the list, sean, that list continues to grow and expand. why not work with the congress? why not do what the law says you're supposed to do? >> why do i think if i broke the law i would be handcuffed and mug shotted and -- >> would he get past the debate with mccain and romney if he said he would negotiate with the taliban and give the drug cartels 2,000 weapons, when benghazi was happening, none of the military would be on their way and health care would be a debac debacle. >> good to see you. >> thank you. coming up, it's the question many want the answer to, exactly who is sergeant bowe bergdahl? now some are calling him a deserter. coming up next, a navy seal that went on two missions in 2009 to recover sergeant bergdahl and more reaction to the exchange. we'll check in as this busy news night tonight on "hannity" continues straight ahead. how are things with the new guy? all we do is go out to dinner. that's it? i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great...what? he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've got it. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out and entertainment, with no annual fee. to apply, go to citi.com/thankyoucards finally, the purple pill, the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand. comes without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection. welcome back to "hannity" in the wake of bergdahl's release. it's being reported he simply quote walked away from his post. went on two acceseparate missioo rescue bergdahl. the washington post quotes eyes that are angry because they feel the full story hasn't been told here and that six soldiers gave up their life in the search for him. is that true? >> yes, sean, well, you know, we've been searching for five years. i did two opts myself that extended over two or three days in total and a lot of risk to a lot of soldiers and it's very interesting that now after five years, when it's not in an extreme of a situation that we now have a delay or a transfer in some very high level operatives from the taliban. >> were you guys, as you were doing this, were you aware of who the new york post reported, some e-mails he sent out, i'm ashamed to be an american. the title of u.s. soldier is a lie of fools and he said i'm sorry for everything here, you know, we're a conceded country on and on. were you aware of those comments? >> no, at the time you got to realize at the time he was to us an american soldier, whether he did something bad or not didn't matter. what we were doing was developing intel that would make our -- effecting a target more, you know, effective, if you will. so it really to us is still doesn't matter. he's still a u.s. citizen. >> i agree maybe he was suffering from ptsd or the stockholm syndrome. you never know. >> probably. >> there is 250,000 guys back here that have gone multiple deployments and suffering from ptsd, potentially, i want to always give our soldiers the benefit of the doubt, but under the circumstances, if he left his post and he did so willingly, and six people lost their lives, does that change how you feel about this exchange, you know, one u.s. soldier for five others? >> i acknowledge that in my book. i wrote about one of the special operations that we went to to pick up bergdahl. obviously, we didn't get him. i remember putting down in my book kind of what a pain it was to ask my sale broeal brothers into a very hostile environment to pick him up. i still agree if he's an american citizen, you need to do whatever you can but you never exchange a prisoner for another one. >> administration's position, tom, that we didn't negotiate with terrorists. their position is that jay carney said this today, these five guys do not represent a threat to the united states. do you believe either one of those statements? >> i would give it a different name. they have a plan. if you don't want to call it negotiation, somebody made a plan and a decision to make this transfer happen. i think there is a plan. >> in reality, didn't we negotiate the release? i mean, in other words, let's start parsing words and splitting hairs. this is a negotiation and they are telling us it's not. they are telling us there is no threat posed by what is described as the dream team of terrorists. double that? >> you and i both know that you don't get better in prison. so they have been in prison much of their adult life, what is it, 12, 13 years now? >> they didn't like the united states more from that experience. they will not go back happier. >> yeah. >> so they pose a big threat to us soldiers and americans. >> all right. tom, thank you so much for being with us, appreciate it. joining me with more reaction is allen west. colonial, good to see you back. >> good to see you. good to be with you, sean. >> no threat and this was not a negotiation. reaction? >> well, of course, they are a threat. countless amounts of times previously. we basically turned over the taliban senior cabinet members back to the taliban, and we have to be really concerned about what is going to be the long-term ramifications and i don't believe qatar is going to honor any agreement because qatar supported the muslim brotherhood and islamist forces fighting in syria, as well. >> number one is don't we have to tell the american people the truth? we did negotiate with terrorists, did we not? >> uh-huh, yes, we did negotiate with terrorists and the bottom line we gave the taliban what they asked for. that did not have to happen. >> does this set a present where more americans are likely to be taken captive or hostage? >> yes, because what you have a non-state, non-uniform, terrorist organization that the geneva convention does not recognize because they don't openly declare arms or wear uniform. this establishes a different president on the battle field we'll have to contend with. >> what about the bergdahl family? the son and father and where sympathies lie. do you find some of these things curious, what the son said, the father said, the rose garden with the president. is that disturbing to you? >> it is definitely questionable and having been a former conbat commander and also having served in afghanistan, i can tell you if a soldier leaves his weapon and leaves his assigned duty post, he's a deserter and if this soldier took a canteen of water, knife and compass and you do that to find your wake of something, that is questionable. we're glad to have bowe bergdahl back home but the thing we need to, you know, look into is investigate the allegations of desertion. >> six americans died searching for this guy. you know what? those families deserve and some are speaking out. i think they deserve answers, too. colonial thank you for being with us. >> thank you, some of the families were lied to by administration as to why their loved ones died. >> that's a good point and we'll get to the bottom of that tomorrow. thank you. did president obama break the law when he released the five taliban gitmo detain knees? well, some claim that he did because he did not notify congress. we'll get the answers and ann colter joins us and we'll get her take on the prisoner swap. that and more straight ahead. 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