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| Trump taps Norway Amb. Braithwaite to replace Navy Sec. fired over Gallagher scandal | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| US President Donald Trump has tapped Ambassador to Norway, Ken Braithwaite, as a new head of the Navy, saying that he was "not pleased" with the way fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer handled the Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher case. | US President Donald Trump has tapped Ambassador to Norway, Ken Braithwaite, as a new head of the Navy, saying that he was "not pleased" with the way fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer handled the Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher case. |
| In a flurry of tweets on Sunday, Trump confirmed Spencer’s resignation, saying that his “services have been terminated by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.” | |
| “I thank Richard for his service & commitment,” he added. Trump, who was vocally opposed to an internal review that could have seen Gallagher being stripped of his Trident pin, tweeted that he “was not pleased” with the treatment of the Seal by the Navy. Gallagher was court-martialed on seven charges, including shooting at unarmed civilians and stabbing a wounded prisoner during his deployment in Iraq, but was acquitted on six of them in July and found guilty only of posing with a corpse of a slain ISIS captive for a photo. | |
| “He was treated very badly but, despite this, was completely exonerated on all major charges. I then restored Eddie’s rank, Trump wrote. | |
| Trump said that Gallagher, who had already announced that he wants to quit once his legal issues are settled, “will retire peacefully with all of the honors that he has earned, including a Trident Pin.” | |
| Justifying Spencer’s abrupt departure, Trump said that not only he was dissatisfied with the former Navy Secretary's handling of the Gallagher case, but also with what he said what his failure to deal with “large cost overruns from past administration’s” and straighten out contracting procedures. | |
| Admiral and Ambassador to Norway since February , 2018 Ken Braithwaite will be nominated to fill the vacant place, Trump said, calling him as “a man of great achievement and success.” | |
| 'I cannot obey an order that violates the sacred oath' | |
| Shortly after the announcement, Spencer’s resignation letter has begun circulating on social media. The freshly-sacked Navy chief did not mince words, launching a broadside at Trump. | |
| Noting that “the rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries,” Spencer wrote that “he cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” | |
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