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Trump Reverses Navy Decision to Oust Edward Gallagher From SEALs Trump Reverses Navy Decision to Oust Edward Gallagher From SEALs
(about 1 hour later)
President Trump on Thursday reversed a decision by the Navy seeking to oust Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher from the elite commando force. President Trump on Thursday reversed a decision by the Navy seeking to oust a Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, from the elite commando force.
Chief Gallagher has been at the center of a high-profile war crime case and was granted clemency by the president on Friday. He was notified on Wednesday that the Navy planned to start the process to remove the Trident pin that symbolizes membership in the SEALs. Chief Gallagher has been at the center of a high-profile war crimes case and was granted clemency by the president last Friday. He was notified on Wednesday that the Navy planned to start the process of revoking his status as a SEAL and taking away the Trident pin that symbolizes that status.
Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Trump announced on Twitter it would not happen, saying “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!” Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Trump announced on Twitter that the process would not go ahead: “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”
The whipsaw reversal, after the Navy believed it had official approval, is just the latest twist in the unusually public melee over Chief Gallagher’s court-martial, which at times has pitted the commander-in-chief directly against senior Navy leaders. The whipsaw reversal, after the Navy believed it had official approval to act, is the latest twist in the unusually public melee over Chief Gallagher, which at times has pitted the commander in chief directly against senior Navy leaders.
On Tuesday, multiple Navy and Defense Department officials said the Navy had cleared the decision to review Chief Gallagher’s Trident with the White House, though they acknowledged the risk of seeking to punish a SEAL who counts Mr. Trump among his vocal supporters, and said they knew the president could easily reverse the decision. On Tuesday, multiple Navy and Defense Department officials said the Navy had cleared its plan to start the Trident revocation process with the White House, though they acknowledged the risk of seeking to punish a SEAL who counts Mr. Trump among his vocal supporters. They said they knew the president could easily reverse the decision.
Even so, the Navy’s decision to start the process to oust Chief Gallagher was not made in haste, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The commander of Naval Special Warfare, Rear Adm. Collin Green, discussed the matter with Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer and the chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, and the Navy briefed Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The Navy’s decision to start the process to oust Chief Gallagher and three SEAL officers who supervised him was not made in haste, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The commander of Naval Special Warfare, Rear Adm. Collin Green, discussed the matter with Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer and the chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, and the Navy briefed Defense Secretary Mark Esper about it.
In the hours before the letters were issued, two Navy officials said, the Navy reached out to the White House for clearance multiple times. In the hours before Admiral Green issued formal notification letters to the four SEALs, two of the officials said, the Navy reached out to the White House for clearance multiple times.
But mixed signals and reversed decisions are not uncommon in the White House, where rival aides with opposing views, and sometimes outside influences, jockey for the president’s attention.But mixed signals and reversed decisions are not uncommon in the White House, where rival aides with opposing views, and sometimes outside influences, jockey for the president’s attention.
The president announced the reversal on Twitter shortly after Chief Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, appeared on Fox News, framing the Navy decision as an act of defiance toward the president’s decision to restore Chief Gallagher’s rank. The president announced the reversal on Twitter shortly after Chief Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, appeared on Fox News, framing the Navy action as one of defiance toward the president’s decision last week to restore Chief Gallagher’s rank.
“Monday morning the admiral comes in and says I disagree with the president, I’m going to take his Trident,” Mr. Parlatore said. “What he’s doing here is really just an effort to publicly humiliate Chief Gallagher and stick it right in the president’s eye.” “Monday morning, the admiral comes in and says, ‘I disagree with the president, I’m going to take his Trident,’” Mr. Parlatore said. “What he’s doing here is really just an effort to publicly humiliate Chief Gallagher and stick it right in the president’s eye.”
Chief Gallagher was turned in by some of the members of his platoon after a deployment to Iraq in 2017, and was accused of shooting civilians and killing a wounded teenage captive with a hunting knife. He was acquitted of all but one relatively minor charge of posing for a trophy photo with the corpse of a dead captive. In a phone interview, Mr. Parlatore said Chief Gallagher had been told Thursday morning that the process to revoke his Trident was still moving forward.
The chief’s case was championed by Fox News and other conservative media outlets who implored Mr. Trump to pardon the chief. The president intervened several times in the case, and announced congratulations on Twitter after the verdict, saying “Glad I could help.” The war crimes case surrounding Chief Gallagher was rooted in a 2017 deployment in Iraq, where the chief was a SEAL platoon leader. Some members of his platoon reported him to commanders, accusing him of shooting unarmed civilians, killing a wounded teenage captive with a hunting knife and other wrongdoing. He was arrested and indicted in late 2018, but his court-martial ended in July with acquittal on all but one relatively minor charge, posing for a trophy photo with the captive’s corpse.
A military jury reduced the chief one rank to petty officer first class, but on Friday Mr. Trump reversed the demotion, restoring the seal to chief. He also pardoned two soldiers charged with or convicted of murder. The chief was championed by Fox News and other conservative media outlets, which implored Mr. Trump to pardon him. Mr. Trump intervened in the case several times in the chief’s favor, and announced congratulations on Twitter after the verdict, saying, “Glad I could help.”
The military jury reduced Chief Gallagher by one rank, to petty officer first class, for the charge on which he was convicted. But last Friday, Mr. Trump reversed the demotion and restored his rank to chief. Mr. Trump also pardoned two soldiers charged with or convicted of murder.
Admiral Green told his staff on Monday to begin the process that could end with revoking the Tridents of Chief Gallagher and the three SEAL officers who supervised him during the deployment in Iraq: Lt. Cmdr. Robert Breisch and Lt. Jacob Portier, who were implicated in not promptly reporting the killings, as required by regulations; and Lt. Thomas MacNeil, who posed in the trophy photo with Chief Gallagher.
Each man was ordered to appear before superiors on Wednesday, where he received a letter from the admiral formally notifying him that a review board would be convened in early December to consider whether to expel him from the SEALs. Experts say that in the past, such boards have almost always decided to recommend expulsion.
Mr. Trump made no mention of the three officers in his Twitter message Thursday. The Navy did not immediately respond to questions about their status.
Though no previous president had done so, Mr. Trump has repeatedly announced military decisions via Twitter, sometimes after only fleeting consultation with military leaders. Those decisions have at times been sweeping in scope, like Mr. Trump’s announcement that all transgender Americans would be barred from military service. At other times they have focused on a single service member, like the Twitter message in March announcing that Chief Gallagher would be released from the brig to await his trial in less restrictive confinement.
As commander in chief, the president has authority to intervene in military matters of all kinds, whether momentous or minute, experts say, but most presidents have given deference to the judgment of top officers.
“I’m hard pressed to think of a time when the president reached this far down into the underbrush of military personnel issues,” said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School. “It is hard enough for the service secretaries and senior officers to do their job on a good day, but to add the wild card of unpredictable presidential intervention makes a hash of their efforts.”
Mr. Trump’s reversal of Admiral Green’s decision and criticism of the Navy’s handling of the Gallagher case raises the question of whether the admiral might now resign or be removed from command of Naval Special Warfare.
A Navy spokeswoman referred questions about the Twitter message to the White House, saying, “We don’t have a statement at this time.”