“The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,” Trump tweeted, according to The Hill. “This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”
Trump was responding to the news that the Navy had notified Gallagher on Wednesday that he will face a review early next month to determine if he should remain on the elite force. Last week, Trump pardoned Gallagher and two other servicemen – one of them awaiting trial – for war crimes.
Gallagher was accused of using a knife to murder a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq and of killing other civilians. A military court found Gallagher not guilty of the most serious charges in July, according to the Associated Press, but convicted him of posing for a photo with the ISIS victim. He was demoted to Chief.
Back in May 2019, when Trump said he was considering pardons for several military servicemen accused or convicted of war crimes, critics said this would be an abuse of the powers afforded him under the US Constitution.
“We’re looking at a lot of different pardons for a lot of different people,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn when asking why he was considering pardoning war criminals.
Retired Navy admiral James Stavridis was among those who came out strongly against Trump’s reported plans. “I commanded several of the servicemen Trump may pardon,” the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander wrote Wednesday in Time magazine, according to Digital Journal. “Letting them off will undermine the military.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other senior military leaders also told Trump that a presidential pardon could potentially damage the integrity of the military judicial system, and undermine discipline within the ranks.
It should be noted that the Navy’s convening a review of Gallagher’s status has nothing to do with Trump’s interference with the military justice system.
Discussions about convening a review board began shortly after Gallagher’s conviction in July, according to U.S. officials familiar with the case but not authorized to speak publicly.
It should also be noted that Trump’s order relating to Gallagher only referenced to restoring his rank, and did not pardon him of any alleged wrongdoing.
