Even the attempt to use legalese doesn’t get State Department spokesman Jen Psaki off the hook on this one. When asked during a press briefing if Bowe Bergdahl is a deserter, Psaki ignored the question while describing how the Obama administration does view Bergdahl – as “a member of the military who was detained while in combat”.

As was the case yesterday, when Jay Carney issued a similarly incoherent answer to the same question, the fact is that if Bergdahl wasn’t a deserter or if the administration had enough plausible deniability, it would make that very assertion. That it doesn’t means that Psaki made a demonstrably false statement; she was lying.

Contrast Psaki’s statement with that of Col. David Hunt (Ret.), who asserts that not only is Bergdahl a deserter but Hunt confidently gives specific information, cites his sources, and shockingly reveals that 14 soldiers were killed in action while looking for Bergdahl.

Whether it’s Jay Carney, Jen Psaki, or Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Obama is making his mouthpieces flat-out lie by asking them to spin something that simply can’t be spun. As a result, they are clearly lying about a whole host of circumstances surrounding Bergdahl’s release.

If the negotiation for Bergdahl’s release was a political calculation to help blunt the effects of the Benghazi and VA scandals, it was a gross miscalculation.