This may turn out to be the worst controversy the President will experience. Right now he is catching it from all sides. And his far left acolytes are getting desperate in his defense.

A new "USA Today" poll tells the story; 43 percent say it was wrong for the President to trade five Taliban war criminals for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl; just 34 percent believe it was the right thing to do.

And tonight, there is new information. Mr. Obama says he made the exchange because he believed the Sergeant's life was in danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated and we were deeply concerned about and he we saw an opportunity and we seized it. And I make no apologies for that.

HAGEL: It was our judgment, based on the information that we had, that his life, his health were in peril.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: But, according to American doctors, who examined Bergdahl in Afghanistan and others who saw him in Germany where he is now, the Sergeant's physical health is fine. Nothing seriously wrong with him -- nothing. So, once again, once again, the President of the United States finds himself in a truth controversy.

Bergdahl's mental health another matter -- that remains undefined. It would be wrong to condemn the Sergeant without a hearing. He has a right to put forth his case and we hope he does. He may even have been tortured in captivity. So we have to cut him at least some slack right now.

Talking Points is not going to jump to any conclusions. We will stay with the facts as we always do. But some Americans don't want to acknowledge the facts and the President may be in that crew. The far left is attacking people who raised questions about the Sergeant and his family. Over the weekend, this happened on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: After the prisoner swap, this story got personal and political.

O'REILLY: But it is Robert Bergdahl, the 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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: Thank you Bill O'Reilly how for demonstrating how to conduct a smear campaign against a military family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: So by telling you the truth that Robert Bergdahl learned to speak Pashto and looked like a Muslim at the White House, I am smearing a military family. Now, we expect that from that guy, a notorious far left zealot who has masqueraded as a journalist for years. And there is a coordinated effort on the left to hammer anyone criticizing the Taliban deal.

Yesterday, in the "New York Times," a front page headline read, quote: "Bergdahl was in unit known for its troubles."

Article pointing out the platoon was, quote: "Raggedy and sometimes soldiers wore bandannas and cut off t-shirts." That's about it. That was the specific thing the "New York Times" came up with to denigrate the entire platoon. And the paper ran that story on page one.

You may remember last week the "Times" editorialized that members of Sergeant Bergdahl's unit were criticizing him for desertion were being run by Republicans. So you can see what's going on here. There is no question that the release of the five Taliban commanders will have an effect on the entire world. Over the weekend. The Taliban attacked the Karachi international airport in Pakistan sending a signal trying to destabilize the entire nation. Taliban is a threat to the world. Make no mistake about that. That's why this story is so important.

By the way, here is how stupid the Pakistani government is. They could have allied themselves with the USA and defeated the Taliban. Instead, Pakistan has enabled the terrorists to destabilize Afghanistan and possibly their own country. Moronic doesn't even begin to cover it.

Finally there is no way President Obama is going to win this controversy. It's already over. Sergeant Bergdahl is a deserter and five dangerous Taliban war criminals are free -- tough to justify.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.