Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL previously facing a war crimes trial, serves under Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer and Rear Adm. Collin Green, but that didn’t stop him from publicly trashing them on a Sunday appearance on Fox News.
WHOA: Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher just attacked his chain of command on Fox, which the President encouraged everyone to watch. “It’s all about retaliation….The Secretary of the Navy was meddling in my case… What the admiral (Green) is doing is showing complete insubordination.”
— HansNichols (@HansNichols) November 24, 2019
“This is all about ego and retaliation,” Gallagher said on a Fox News appearance Sunday, blasting his Navy superiors. “This is nothing about good order and discipline.”
He said he wanted to retire as scheduled with “all the honors I have earned.”
Gallagher was acquitted in a murder and attempted murder case in July, but he was convicted of posing in a photo with the dead body of 17-year-old ISIS member. He found a vocal supporter in President Donald Trump, who ordered to rescind the medals of the prosecutors who worked on Gallagher’s case. That backup continued this month. Gallagher had been demoted, but POTUS restored his rank. Navy officials were moving forward with proceedings to kick him out, a move that Trump opposed on Twitter.
Critics say the president’s support of Gallagher and pardon of war crimes condones illegal acts by U.S. armed forces, undermines discipline, and puts American service members in danger.
Spencer and Green reportedly threatened to resign or make the White House fire them if Gallagher was still a SEAL. The Navy secretary openly denied the report that he threatened to resign.
He said he did not consider Trump’s tweet a formal order, but would follow an official demand if one is filed.
“If the president requests to stop the process, the process stops,” Spencer said, according to The New York Times. “Good order and discipline is also obeying orders from the president of the United States.”
It was reported Sunday that the White House said it will not get in the middle of the proceedings to oust Gallagher.
NEW: The Navy has been notified that the White House will not intervene to stop an ongoing review of whether SEAL Eddie Gallagher should be kicked out, a Navy official confirmed to CNN.
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) November 24, 2019
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
[Screengrab via Law&Crime]
