"28-year-old sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan on June 30th, 2009...Over the weekend, the President made a deal with the Taliban to have the sergeant released immediately. In return, five top Taliban terrorists, who were held in Guantanamo, were flown to the Gulf nation of Qatar where they will eventually be repatriated back to Afghanistan...

"The President signed a law late last year that says Congress must be given 30 days notice before any detainee at Guantanamo can be released or transferred...By trading one American for five terrorists, that might encourage Americans to be kidnapped all over the world...

"In addition to politics, there is the emotional part of this story...It is Robert Bergdahl, the sergeant's father, who is also engendering some controversy. He has learned to speak Pashto, the language of the Taliban, and looks like a Muslim. He's also somewhat sympathetic to Islam, actually thanking Allah right in front of the President...

"A number of reports today imply Sergeant Bergdahl may have deserted his unit in Afghanistan. And there is reportedly correspondence between him and his parents saying how disillusioned he was with the Afghanistan war...

"There is no question that President Obama's actions will make things more dangerous for Americans abroad...but in war hard decisions have to be made. These five Taliban terrorists will kill again - there is no question about that...

"President Obama wants to open avenues of negotiation with the Taliban. He wants a cease fire in Afghanistan. And by opening communications over the sergeant, the President sees an opportunity. But if history is any indicator, the Taliban will never stop fighting because they don't have anything else to do."

Guests:Col. David Hunt

White House spokesperson Jay Carney fielded a question about the circumstances surrounding Sgt. Bergdahl's capture. Carney tap-danced around the issue and said it was absolutely the right thing to do to secure Bergdahl's return, but stressed the Defense Department will evaluate all the circumstances surrounding his detention and captivity.

Col. Hunt relayed information from four primary sources: Sgt. Bergdahl was a deserter who left his unit in combat. He reportedly crawled underneath the wire of his base with water, food, a change of clothes, and a cell phone, then called his unit the next day to say he had deserted. Hunt is outraged that we lost 14 soldiers searching for a deserter.

In the Factor's opinion, the Obama administration must also know what Hunt knows about this guy, so he questioned why they would take a chance releasing five war criminals in return for this one guy.

Hunt expressed disagreement with the deal made. He acknowledged we have to do everything we can to get our guys back, including raids and bribes, but this deal puts soldiers in the field at risk. He guessed this is probably the first time in the history of our country that we've traded war criminals to get a deserter back.

Guests:Juan Williams & Mary Katharine Ham

Some Republicans are angry President Obama circumvented the law by making the Bergdahl deal.

Juan declared that he doesn't care if Bergdahl was a jerk, a misguided kid, or a traitor. He went to Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. military, so we needed to try to secure his return.

The Factor argued this move opens up a precedent of kidnapping Americans all over the place and also puts us at risk by putting five Taliban killers back in the field, but Juan presumed the administration will try to track and kill these bad guys.

Mary Katharine emphasized it's not just the GOP who is critical of this decision - the Afghan government, who will have to deal with these Taliban guys - has a lot of questions, as does the CIA. She said as often happens, the White House doesn't seem to be on top of the backlash.

The Factor was insulted by Bergdahl's father, who showed up at a press conference with President Obama looking like he's one of the Taliban, but Juan defended the dad by insisting he was growing a beard to show support for his son.

Mary Katharine assured us that we'll find out more about Bergdahl and his capture when he comes home and goes to trial in the military justice system.

The Factor concluded that nobody in the country can possibly think this is a good deal.

Guests:Bret Baier
Before getting to the topic at hand, the Factor asked Bret about President Obama signing an executive order that coal-fueled plants have to cut emissions over the next 16 years.

Bret reported that the Chamber of Commerce says the move will hurt the economy in the short term. Plus, it will raise electric bills for all Americans.

The Factor put forth that this is a legacy issue for President Obama - he's just trying to make the environmentalists happy.

Pivoting, they discussed Bret's new book called "Special Heart," which is all about his 6-year-old son's battle with heart problems.

Bret explained how his son was given a clean bill of health at birth, but within 24 hours doctors told them he had five congenital heart defects that were life-threatening. Since then, he has had three open heart surgeries, seven angioplasties, and a stomach surgery.

The Factor pondered the emotional toll on the young boy. Bret shared that while his son can't play contact sports, he can now do everything else other kids do. He and his wife wanted to write the book to help other people going through tough times.


Pick up Bret's book right here on BillOReilly.com.

Guests:Bernie Goldberg

In a just-released chapter from Hillary Clinton's new book, she says the Benghazi screw-up was her fault, but contends partisan politics have made the story much more than it really is.

The Factor wondered whether it's smart for her to try to get out in front of the Benghazi deal, to which Bernie replied absolutely! He claimed that if some Republican has the "gall" to bring up Benghazi when Hillary announces she's running for president, she can say she dealt with it in her book. He believes the media will cover for her.

If the Factor were the Republican running against her, he'd ask why she didn't do anything about the security problem when she was warned about it. Playing the role of Mrs. Clinton, Bernie predicted her response: if you plan to use four dead Americans for your cheap political gain, I'm not going to take part in it.

The Factor thinks she may have trouble with this issue if pressed on it. If she couldn't control one department, why would voters give her the whole country to run?

Bernie conceded it's a legitimate question, but he quoted from Mrs. Clinton's book - "I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans" - and said he reckons the American electorate may fall for this line.

Guests:Jesse Watters

The Factor sent Jesse Watters to Atlantic City to ask questions about love and hate.

On the list of people the folks admire: Oprah, Johnny Depp, Ted Cruz, Bill O'Reilly, Mayor de Blasio, Tiger Woods, and Derek Jeter.

And on the annoy list: Harry Reid, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Donald Trump, Bill Maher, Lindsay Lohan, and Al Sharpton.

To get the most out of summer, you have to plan ahead. On July 25th, the Factor heads to Mount Rushmore! Parents and grandparents have to take the kids to see things like this because they just don't learn about them in school anymore.