Trump is playing with more fire this time with the Navy
- Thread starter easy_b
- Start date
Oh shit
They'll just find someone who will back Trump's decision. This is only relevant if everyone in the Naval Special Warfare community agree to fight trump on his desire to allow Gallagher to retire with full rank and benefits.
Trump is making too many enemies within His own government
Nope...whole different can of worms, when it comes to upper echelon on the US Navy and the most elite fighting force on the planet. This will be another article of impeachment, he is the commander-in-chief but he still has to follow the uniform code of military Justice!
I kind of knew this was coming .... you could almost see it on the horizon .... now .... will "Chump" fold ?
.
Nope, from all indications Trump has final say. From the tweet in Easy's post, which doesn't imply or state that Trump doesn't have the authority to do what he wants to the following quote from Slate. com:
Unless, I am not understanding something the only way to fight this is for NSW to collectively stand up to him.
Don't disagree with that. However, none of his enemies are willing to go that extra mile and get him out of there.
ALso, as we have seen, for every enemy he makes he finds a new sucker to take up the mantle.
I've never seen someone at such a high level create so many enemies.
I've never seen someone at such a high level create so many enemies.
He is truly the Teflon Don. Since impeachment he is getting more support and now polls have him beating Biden by 2 points.
So does Congress...
Yes POTUS has the full command and the power to pardon but on the back end his administration is still subject to oversight by Congress, and if our own military code of justice says this man is a war criminal then what does that make Trump for pardoning him?
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huh? someone wasnt paying attention in school. congress can chin check any action the president does and get rid of them.
That's the problem, it's not HIS government. He wants some Kim Jong-un shit.
Sorry as it stands now, what you are saying does not apply. Trump has legal authority to pardon him.
As Admiral Moved to Expel a Navy SEAL, He Kept an Eye on Trump (Published 2019)
The commander of the Navy SEALs began the process that could eject Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher from the force after the White House did not push back, Navy officials said.
As Admiral Moved to Expel a Navy SEAL, He Kept an Eye on Trump
The commander of the Navy SEALs began the process that could eject Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher from the force after the White House did not push back, Navy officials said.
Rear Adm. Collin Green signed a letter this week that could lead to Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher’s expulsion from the SEALs.Credit...Bob Collet/Alamy
By Dave Philipps
- Nov. 20, 2019
- [Update: President Trump on Thursday reversed a Navy decision to oust Edward Gallagher from SEALs.]
For more than a year, he had considered expelling Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher from the SEALs, the Navy’s elite commando force, three Navy officials said, and his signature on the letter would start a process that could make that happen. But through the afternoon and late into the night, he held off, the officials said, watching for signs of pushback from one of the chief’s most vocal supporters, President Trump.
Admiral Green had made it a top priority to restore what he called “good order and discipline” to the SEAL teams, which have been bearing an outsize share of the war-fighting burden in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and have been rocked by a series of scandals in recent years over charges of drug use, sexual assault and murder.
But as the admiral tried to reinforce ethics and accountability in the force, he saw Chief Gallagher as an obstacle, the Navy officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The chief was disparaging other SEALs and insulting Navy leaders on social media, while making allies of conservative lawmakers and Mr. Trump, raising the prospect that any move against the chief could be a career-killer.
Chief Gallagher, a SEAL platoon leader, had been accused by some of his own men of committing war crimes in Iraq. He was acquitted of murder by a military court in July but was convicted of posing for a trophy photo with a corpse, a relatively minor offense. Mr. Trump intervened in the case several times in the chief’s favor, most recently on Friday when he restored Chief Gallagher’s rank.
When no pushback came on Tuesday after hours of communication with the White House, Admiral Green went ahead and signed the letter, along with three more to SEAL officers who had supervised Chief Gallagher in Iraq, the Navy officials said. The letters were handed to the four sailors on Wednesday by their commanders.
The letters inform each of them that their cases will now be reviewed by boards of fellow SEALs, who will weigh the conduct cited by the admiral — in Chief Gallagher’s case, the crime for which he was convicted in July — and decide whether to recommend that they be stripped of their Tridents, the badges that signify membership in the SEALs. The sailors will have a chance to address the boards, which are expected to render decisions in December. Admiral Green can then endorse or reject the decisions.
Experts say that in past cases, the review boards have almost always recommended taking the badges away.
The admiral’s move to revoke Chief Gallagher’s Trident was immediately assailed by Chief Gallagher’s lawyer and by conservative commentators as a defiant rebuke of Mr. Trump’s decision to grant the chief clemency, and a sign of insubordination. The lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, filed a complaint against Admiral Green with the Navy’s inspector general, accusing the admiral of deliberately violating the president’s intentions and other wrongdoing.
The Navy officials said the admiral’s action against the chief could still be reversed by Mr. Trump, and acknowledged that it could cost Admiral Green his job. But they said the admiral stood by his decision.
The officials said the admiral first considered taking the chief’s Trident last November, after a preliminary hearing in the war crimes case found enough evidence to charge the chief with murder, attempted murder and a list of other crimes. But Admiral Green held off, they said, out of concern that taking his Trident away before the trial could be seen as prejudicial to the chief.
The admiral held off again in July, the officials said, when Chief Gallagher was acquitted on most charges by the court-martial jury, this time out of concern that taking the Trident soon after the verdict would look like retaliation.
And he held off a third time earlier this month, as Chief Gallagher was waiting outside his commander’s office to receive a notification letter, because the Navy had received word that Mr. Trump might pardon the chief.
But when the White House announcement on Friday said that Mr. Trump had reversed Chief Gallagher’s demotion — and did not say that he had been granted a full pardon — Admiral Green decided it was time.
A Navy official who had discussed the matter with the admiral, and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations, said the aim was not to make an example of Chief Gallagher, but to hold him to the same standards that all SEALs must meet.
Admiral Green’s action was widely derided by Chief Gallagher’s supporters, including the Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth, who was instrumental in Mr. Trump’s action on Friday to grant clemency to Chief Gallagher and to pardon two Army soldiers accused or convicted of murder.
“The arrogance of the Navy knows no bounds,” Mr. Hegseth wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon after news broke of the admiral’s pending action. Suggesting that there were “lots of anti-Trumpers” in the Navy command, Mr. Hegseth wrote, “Have a feeling I know how this will end…”
Three Republican members of the House, Ralph Norman, Duncan Hunter and Louie Gohmert, visited the Navy’s legislative liaison in the Capitol to register what Mr. Norman said in a post on Facebook were their “strongest concerns over this news.”
Mr. Parlatore said the admiral’s move appeared aimed not just at his client, but also at the commander in chief.
“It’s pure retaliation, partially against Eddie Gallagher and partially against the president,” Mr. Parlatore said in an interview. “The Navy thinks the president is wrong and is trying to undo his wishes.”
But two Navy officials said the admiral’s decision had been cleared with the White House. As of Wednesday evening, neither the president nor White House officials had publicly voiced any disapproval.
Admiral Green, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1986, has been in the SEALs for virtually his entire career. He took over command of Naval Special Warfare in September 2018, only a few days before the Navy arrested Chief Gallagher.
Saying that high ethical standards and strict accountability are a bedrock of military effectiveness, the admiral has taken several steps intended to tighten discipline in the SEALs. He has ordered reviews of ethics training, tightened grooming standards and gone on a public campaign to rein in what some saw as years of lax operation.
“These programs will ensure our culture and values — from the tactical unit to headquarters — are aligned with the standards of behavior that enable us to act according to the highest potential of our character,” he told Defense Media Network in May.
At the same time, he has had to navigate the Gallagher case with care. In the military, leaders who interfere in criminal cases in any way can scuttle the court proceedings through what is called unlawful command influence. Even an off-the-cuff remark expressing an opinion about a case can lead to a mistrial.
The three Navy officials said there had been heated debate among officers involved in the decision concerning Chief Gallagher’s Trident over whether taking it from him before trial would signal to the court-martial jury that the SEALs no longer supported the defendant.
Mr. Parlatore said on Wednesday that had the Navy done so, he would have argued in court that it amounted to unlawful command influence. The jury, he said, “certainly would have noticed it, and it would send a message to them.”
Chief Gallagher said in an interview on Fox News over the weekend that the president had told him in a phone call that he was “expunging everything in my record so I could retire honorably — basically it was like this thing had never happened.”
But the Navy officials said the order the Navy received from the White House said only that Chief Gallagher should be promoted back to the rank he held before trial.
During a series of phone calls over the weekend, top Navy officials determined that since the conviction was left standing, Admiral Green still had grounds to start the process that could remove Chief Gallagher’s Trident, a Defense Department official said.
Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer and the chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, discussed the matter with Admiral Green, and saw the central issue as one of fairness, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. They thought a commander should hold sailors equally accountable, whether or not a particular sailor might complain to the president, the official said.
At the same time, the official said, the leaders acknowledged that the decision would be divisive, and might prompt Mr. Trump to relieve Admiral Green of his command. Ultimately they told Admiral Green it was his call, the official said.
The official said that if the president orders the Navy to stop the process the admiral’s letters set in motion, the Navy leaders would follow the order.
Wishful thinking on your part... read my other post. I guess you missed the part about the President being the Commander in Chief.
Here I will make it easy for you and quote directly from article.
The Navy officials said the admiral’s action against the chief could still be reversed by Mr. Trump, and acknowledged that it could cost Admiral Green his job. But they said the admiral stood by his decision.
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But he holds the power to Pardon. The UCMJ is not immune to the pen stroke of the CIC. This dude will end up with a General Discharge and as long as it's anything other than Dishonorable...he's pretty much in the clear for the most part.
This muhfucka can still qualify for Government employment.
I don't think they get it. If the admiral had another option to fight Trump's pardon (other than a threat to quit),he would have utilized it firstBut he holds the power to Pardon. The UCMJ is not immune to the pen stroke of the CIC. This dude will end up with a General Discharge and as long as it's anything other than Dishonorable...he's pretty much in the clear for the most part.
This muhfucka can still qualify for Government employment.
The Navy Wants to Push Out Problem SEALs. But Trump May Get in the Way. (Published 2019)
A push to strengthen discipline in the SEAL teams has been stymied by one member’s support in the White House.
The Navy Wants to Push Out Problem SEALs. But Trump May Get in the Way.
A push to strengthen discipline in the SEAL teams has been stymied by one member’s support in the White House.
Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher with his wife, Andrea, at Naval Base San Diego after he was acquitted in July of war crimes charges including shooting civilians, murdering a captive ISIS fighter, and threatening to kill witnesses.Credit...John Gastaldo/Reuters
By Dave Philipps
- Oct. 18, 2019
Admiral Green has come down hard on misconduct, fired two key leaders and made an unusually public admission that the Navy’s secretive warrior caste has an “ethics problem.” At the same time, though, he has steered wide of the SEAL at the center of one of the grimmest episodes, Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who was charged with shooting civilians, murdering a captive Islamic State fighter with a knife, and threatening to kill witnesses.
Chief Gallagher was acquitted of murder charges this summer, but evidence that he had engaged in a range of other misconduct, including theft and drug use, had come to light during the investigation. Admiral Green and other Navy leaders were planning to demote him and force him out of the SEALs — sending a message that such conduct had no place in one of the country’s premier fighting forces.
None of that has happened, though, because one of Chief Gallagher’s most vocal supporters happens to be the commander in chief. President Trump has repeatedly intervened, and has posted so many expressions of support for the SEAL on Twitter that the Navy now sees Chief Gallagher as untouchable, according to three Navy officials familiar with the case. Any talk of punishment has been shelved, not only for the chief, but for two other SEALs who had been facing possible discipline in the case, these officials said.
Mr. Trump helped Chief Gallagher get released from confinement before his trial, and personally congratulated him on Twitter when he was acquitted.
“People want to hold these guys accountable,” said one Navy officer who was involved in the punishment deliberations. “But they are afraid that if you do anything, minutes later there will be a tweet from the White House, and the officer in charge will get axed.”
The officer, like others interviewed for this article, asked that his name not be used because he feared retaliation.
The president has previously made it clear that he believes the country should tread carefully when calling American troops to account for acts of war. Only last week, he announced on Twitter that the White House was reviewing the case of Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, a former Army Special Forces soldier charged with murder in the death of a Taliban bomb maker in Afghanistan. “We train our boys to be killing machines, then prosecute them when they kill!” Mr. Trump wrote.
The issue in Chief Gallagher’s case became apparent to Admiral Green’s team in August, when the chief’s lawyers — including one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers, Marc Mukasey, who joined the defense team two months before the June court-martial — had tried and failed to persuade Navy commanders to suspend any punishment. Soon after that, the president brought up the Gallagher case at a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations, according to a senior Navy official.
White House officials strongly denied that the Gallagher case was discussed. But hours after the meeting, the Chief of Naval Operations announced that he would personally take over the Gallagher case from another admiral, who had indicated that she planned to punish the chief.
The Navy had also planned to discipline two other SEALs who had come under investigation in the Gallagher case: Lt. Jacob Portier, who was charged with not reporting Chief Gallagher’s actions in Iraq; and Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a platoon medic whose testimony at the chief’s trial prompted the Navy to open a perjury investigation. But the day after the White House meeting, the charges against Lieutenant Portier were dropped and the investigation of Special Operator Scott was ended.
The intervention from Washington left Navy leaders with a dilemma: Not punishing Chief Gallagher and the others would undermine efforts to restore discipline in the ranks, but punishing them only to be publicly reversed might make things even worse.
“All that’s off the table now,” said a Navy Special Warfare officer who was briefed on the most recent deliberations of Admiral Green’s team about the matter. Navy commanders grew concerned that if they took away from Chief Gallagher the Trident pin that signifies membership in the SEALs, only to see the president give it back again, the officer said, “it sends a message that the commanders aren’t in control.”
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While taking no action against Chief Gallagher, the Navy recently fired two senior leaders of the team on which Chief Gallagher serves, SEAL Team 7, which has had other recent incidents of misconduct. The command cited a “loss of confidence that resulted from leadership failures.”
The two leaders, Cmdr. Edward Mason and Master Chief Hugh Spangler — both decorated career SEALs with unblemished records who took command of the team after Chief Gallagher had been arrested — filed a complaint with the Navy’s inspector general over their firing. They said that they had become “expendable scapegoats” in the admiral’s fight against an anti-authoritarian “Gallagher effect” that was threatening to spread through the force.
With his new, protected status, Chief Gallagher appears to be trolling Navy leadership.
A few days after the demoted leaders filed their complaint, an Instagram account belonging to Chief Gallagher and his wife started selling T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “The Gallagher Effect.”
Another recent Instagram post from the account referred to Admiral Green and another top Navy leader as “a bunch of morons.”
And in a photo posted on social media by a former member of his platoon, Chief Gallagher is seen gripping a hunting knife similar to the one Navy prosecutors said he used to kill a captive fighter from ISIS, which is also known by its Arabic name, Daesh. The post, which was “liked” by Chief Gallagher’s account, included the hashtags #WeDon’tHaveAnEthicsProblem and #NoOneCriesOverSpilledDaesh.
Timothy Parlatore, a lawyer for Chief Gallagher, said the Instagram account is administered by the chief’s wife and does not reflect the chief’s views.
The original criminal charges against Chief Gallagher, 40, stemmed from his fifth combat deployment with the SEALs, when he led a platoon fighting ISIS in Iraq in 2017. In a text message sent to his supervisor before deploying, he said he did not care where the Navy sent him, as long as there was “sure action,” adding, “We just want to kill as many people as possible.”
He ended up in an advisory role largely behind front lines. But several men under his command told Navy authorities that he remained fixated on killing, and said they saw him shoot civilians with a sniper rifle and stab a captive teenage ISIS fighter in the neck. Their reports eventually led to the war crimes charges filed against the chief.
After Chief Gallagher was arrested in 2018, his family appeared repeatedly on Fox News, insisting that he had been wrongly accused. Soon Mr. Trump became a supporter, praising Chief Gallagher’s “past service to our country” on Twitter. Mr. Trump directed the Navy to release the chief from pretrial confinement in the spring of 2019 and ordered paperwork to pardon him before his trial in June.
During the trial, the Navy’s case against Chief Gallagher fell into disarray as a key witness, Special Operator Scott, changed his story on the stand and prosecutors canceled the testimony of other witnesses, fearing they would do the same. A jury made up largely of seasoned combat veterans found Chief Gallagher not guilty of nearly all counts.
After the acquittal, the president congratulated him on Twitter saying, “Glad I could help!”
But Admiral Green was worried about the message that the Gallagher case was sending to the rest of force. In July, he sent a letter to the SEAL teams warning that the spate of incidents of drug use and violence in the SEAL teams showed “we have a problem,” and that leaders “must now take a proactive approach to prevent the next breach of ethical and professional behavior.”
In Chief Gallagher’s case, though he had been acquitted on the murder charge, Navy officials were considering administrative punishment for other possible misconduct uncovered during the investigation.
The Navy had found unauthorized grenades, stolen equipment and illicit drugs in his house and in his work locker, according to the Navy’s criminal investigation report. When investigators seized the chief’s phone, they found text exchanges suggesting he was illegally using the narcotic painkiller Tramadol, as well as marijuana and ecstasy.
Chief Gallagher has denied that he did anything unlawful in Iraq, and his lawyer, Mr. Parlatore, said the purported drug and equipment offenses had already been investigated and had been deemed insignificant.
The part of the case taken over by the chief Navy officer in Washington concerns the minor charge on which Chief Gallagher was convicted in the trial — posing for a photo with a corpse. The officer hearing the case had recommended that the chief be demoted by one rank, with the possibility that he could be further reduced to the lowest rank in the military, E-1. The regional commander overseeing the court-martial, Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar, had the authority to adjust or overturn the conviction and sentence.
Chief Gallagher’s legal team pressed Admiral Bolivar to suspend his punishment so the chief could retire from the Navy with full rank and a clean record. Admiral Bolivar replied in a letter Aug. 1 that she found the chief's conduct reprehensible and had no intention of suspending his sentence.
That was when the chief’s legal team informed the Navy that they would “take their case to Washington,” according to a Navy official with knowledge of the exchange. On the same day that Admiral Bolivar’s letter was sent, the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John M. Richardson, along with the Secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer, went to the White House for a meeting with Mr. Trump.
A senior Navy official said the two men had not expected to discuss the Gallagher case, and were surprised when the president brought it up, expressing his displeasure that prosecutors had received commendations for what he regarded as a botched handling of the case.
Though White House officials insist the case was not discussed, within hours of the meeting, Admiral Richardson took the Gallagher, Portier and Scott cases from Admiral Bolivar.
Charges against Lieutenant Portier were dismissed the next day, and the investigation of Special Operator Scott was halted. Neither man responded to requests for comment.
Mr. Parlatore said he had not contacted the White House and had no knowledge of any intervention by the president. He said he welcomed the president’s involvement if it happened because his client was threatened with punishment for minor misconduct that is often overlooked in the SEAL teams. “If the president has a deterrent effect and can prevent retaliation, we’re thankful for that,” he said.
A new Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael M. Gilday, took command in August, but has not changed course. His final decision in the Gallagher case is expected by the end of October.
Admiral Green was not available to discuss the case, according to Capt. Tamara Lawrence, a Navy spokeswoman, who added that “it would be inappropriate to speculate on any administrative actions, as no decisions have been made.”
On the night of the leadership demotions in Team 7, Chief Gallagher made an unauthorized appearance at a “Patriot Awards” gala in Nashville, alongside Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. Both men accepted awards from the country music star Charlie Daniels.
“What an honor,” a post on Chief Gallagher’s Instagram account said.
Maggie Haberman and John Ismay contributed reporting from Washington.
uh commander in chief doesnt mean final say lol. congress can reverse any order the president does not in war time. basic check and balances.
Congress authorizes wars to pay for them and they create Legislation, i.e. UCMJ, and what have you but he has no fucks to give about who he pardons and how it will make him look.
Have you noticed that in the last two Administrations, they've managed to skirt Congressional approval for certain military actions? Nobody even knew we had Troops in Niger until shit went sideways. They're conducting operations all over the place without going through Congress.
It's also the reason the clowns have a shit ton of Appointees and Acting Jacks is so they can move without having to confirm who they want through Congressional hearings.
Dude Trump has just pardoned 3 war criminals all at the same time basically. Congress ain't said shit about it. Why is that?
OEF is Afghanistan
OIF is Iraq
Operation New Dawn was the drawdown in Iraq
All of these went through Congress and is considered "The Global War on Terrorism"
All we've had since have been various Operations which can be/are conducted w/o Congressional approval.
What this Chief did happened in Afghanistan, which is a Theater of War.
Trump grants clemency to troops in three controversial war crimes cases
POTUS intervenes in the cases of two Army officers and a Navy SEAL.
www.militarytimes.com
Trump grants clemency to troops in three controversial war crimes cases
By: Leo Shane III , Meghann Myers , and Carl Prine November 15
41.7K
Trump takes action in three war crimes cases
President Trump has restored the rank of a Navy SEAL acquitted of murder and pardoned two soldiers accused of murder, Military Times has learned.
President Donald Trump on Friday granted clemency to three controversial military figures embroiled in charges of war crimes, arguing the moves will give troops “the confidence to fight” without worrying about potential legal overreach.
Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, convicted of second degree murder in the death of two Afghans, was given a full pardon from president for the crimes. Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who faced murder charges next year for a similar crime, was also given a full pardon for those alleged offenses.
Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher, who earlier this fall was acquitted of a string of alleged war crimes, had his rank restored to Chief Petty Officer by the president.
White House considers pardons for troops facing war crime accusations
President Donald Trump may grant clemency to the service members as early as this weekend, to mark Memorial Day.
By: Leo Shane III
All three cases had been championed by conservative lawmakers and media personalities as an overreaction to the chaos and confusion of wartime decisions. But critics have warned the moves could send the message that troops need not worry about following rules of engagement when fighting enemies abroad.
“The President, as Commander-in-Chief, is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the law is enforced and when appropriate, that mercy is granted,” the White House said in a statement. “For more than 200 years, presidents have used their authority to offer second chances to deserving individuals, including those in uniform who have served our country.
“These actions are in keeping with this long history.”
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Pentagon leaders privately had expressed reservations about the moves, but Defense Secretary Mark Esper has declined comment on the rumored actions in recent days.
Last week, he said that he had a “robust” conversation with Trump about the proposed pardons and clemency and that “I do have full confidence in the military justice system and we’ll let things play out as they play out.”
What motivated fellow SEALs to dime out Eddie Gallagher?
The fog of war swirls through the reams of internal files provided to Navy Times.
By: Navy Times staff
The Army announced it will implement Trump’s pardons.
“Under the Constitution, the president has the power to grant pardons for federal offenders; that authority extends to military court-martial proceedings,” the Army announced in a statement.
"The Army has full confidence in our system of justice. The Uniform Code of Military Justice ensures good order and discipline for uniformed service members while holding accountable those who violate its provisions. The foundation of military law is the Constitution, and the Constitution establishes the President’s power to grant pardons.
“The Army will review today’s executive actions in order to implement the presidential orders.”
In the wake of Trump’s decision, the official twitter account of Rear Adm. Charles Brown, the Chief of Naval Information, indicated that Navy leaders “acknowledge his order and are implementing it.”
While Gallagher was acquitted of murder and obstruction of justice charges in July, a panel of his peers recommended he be reduced in grade for posing with the body of a detainee, a crime he never denied.
Lorance’s case dates back to a 2012 deployment to Afghanistan, when he ordered his soldiers to fire on three unarmed men riding a motorcycle near their patrol. Members of his platoon testified against him at a court-martial trial, describing Lorance as over-zealous and the Afghans as posing no real threat.
He was sentenced to 19 years in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In recent years, Lorance and his family had waged a long campaign against his sentence, and found a receptive ear in Trump.
Golsteyn’s case had not yet been decided. He was scheduled for a December trial on charges he murdered an alleged Taliban bomb maker, and burned his remains in a trash pit during a 2010 deployment with 3rd Special Forces Group. Trump’s action effectively puts an end to that legal case before any verdicts were rendered.
Trump pardons former US soldier who killed Iraqi prisoner
President Donald Trump has pardoned a former U.S. soldier convicted in 2009 of killing an Iraqi prisoner, the White House announced Monday.
By: Kevin Freking, The Associated Press
The president called Gallagher at around 4 p.m to personally deliver the news, according to the SEAL’s attorney Timothy Parlatore.
“We’re extremely grateful to the president for his decision to right the wrongs committed by the Navy’s criminal justice system against Chief Gallagher,” Parlatore told Navy Times Friday evening. “But this also was a case that should’ve been dismissed by the Navy at an earlier date. The misconduct by NCIS and military JAG prosecutors should’ve been handled a long time ago by the Navy. The commander in chief was right to assert his leadership to right this wrong.”
Trump overturned a decision by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday announced on Oct. 29 that preserved Gallagher’s demotion to petty officer first class. Gallagher’s legal team had urged the four-star to show mercy for a highly decorated SEAL whose case was plagued by allegations of corruption inside the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Gallagher’s court-martial trial for murder and other alleged war crimes collapsed and a panel of his peers convicted him on the sole charge of positing for a photo next to a dead Islamic State detainee, a charge he never denied.
Before the trial kicked off, a military judge booted Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak, the lead prosecutor, for his role in a warrantless surveillance program cooked up with NCIS to track emails sent by defense attorneys and Navy Times.
Prosecutors and agents also were accused of manipulating witness statements; using immunity grants and a bogus “target letter” in a crude attempt to keep pro-Gallagher witnesses from testifying; illegally leaking documents to the media to taint the military jury pool; and then trying to cover it all up when they got caught.
“The fight for Eddie Gallagher has been long and intense, but it never should’ve gotten to this point,” said Parlatore. “What the president’s action indicates is that there are service members who have been unjustly targeted by the military criminal justice system, and Eddie and I look forward to working to reform these problems on their behalf.”
Trump nixes NAMs for 4 prosecutors tied to SEAL case
It's not the first time a tweeting Trump has interjected himself into the case.
By: Carl Prine
Fox News and Navy Times both reported on Nov. 4 that the president had decided to restore Gallagher to chief.
Later Friday night, the social media sites helmed by Gallagher’s wife, Andrea, carried a statement attributed to her husband that thanked both the president for his intervention and the “American people for their unwavering support" over the past year.
He said that the United States is blessed to have a commander in chief who “stands up for our warfighters and cares about how they and their families are treated.”
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/11/04/report-trump-makes-seal-gallagher-a-chief-again/
Report: Trump makes SEAL Gallagher a chief again
Two Army soldiers also are poised to benefit from the president's apparent intervention in their court-martial cases.
By: Navy Times staff
In a prepared statement sent to Military Times by attorney Phil Stackhouse, Golsteyn’s family said they were “profoundly grateful” that the president ended the soldier’s prosecution.
Stackhouse said Golsteyhn spoke with the president by telephone “for several minutes” on Friday.
“We have lived in constant fear of this runaway prosecution," Golsteyn said in the statement. "Thanks to President Trump, we now have a chance to rebuild our family and lives. With time, I hope to regain my immense pride in having served in our military. In the meantime, we are so thankful for the support of family members, friends and supporters from around the nation, and our legal team.”
Stackhouse pointed to an Army Board of Inquiry that cleared the major for his alleged misconduct tied to the ambush of the Taliban bomb maker. He said Golsteyn’s legal team remained confident “we would have prevailed in trial, but this action by the president expedited justice in this case.”
"Maj. Golsteyn should have been medically retired years ago because of service-related injuries and allowed to move on with his life and family. Instead, the Army secretly pursued him for seven years. The origination and true motivation of this prosecution remains a mystery. We urge the Army to learn from this flawed, compromised prosecution and prevent similar abuses in the future.”
Esper: ‘Robust’ conversation with Trump about proposed pardons for SEAL, two soldiers
The president is expected to make his decision by Veterans Day.
By: Meghann Myers
We laud the President’s decision – which he made as Commander-in-Chief and general courtmartial convening authority under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) as justice for Clint Lorance," said John Maher, one of his attorneys, in a statement. “We see the President’s decision as a broader victory for those who work to ensure our military justice system does not sacrifice our warriors to political and international whims.”
Trump has exercised his pardoning powers often during his administration, including in the case of another soldier earlier this year.
Former 1st Lt. Michael Behenna had been paroled from Leavenworth in 2014, after receiving a 15-year sentence for murdering an alleged al-Qaida operative in Iraq in 2009.
And in 2018, he pardoned former Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Kristian Saucier, who spent a year in jail after pleading guilty in 2016 to taking cell phone photos of his work space on board the attack submarine Alexandria ― prohibited, as the entirety of a submarine is considered a classified area.
Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, in a statement blasted the moves by the president.
“With this utterly shameful use of presidential powers, Trump has sent a clear message of disrespect for law, morality, the military justice system, and those in the military who abide by the laws of war,” she said.
Army Times reporter Kyle Rempfer contributed to this story.
Can Trump really do that? The presidential pardon power, explained
The pardon power is one of the most sweeping powers the president has. But Trump's pardons are raising new questions about its purpose and limits.
www.usatoday.com
Can Congress overturn a pardon?
No. The power is reserved exclusively to the president.
Still, Congress has tried to exercise influence over the pardon process in two ways: setting the budget for the Office of the Pardon Attorney, and conducting oversight on controversial presidential pardons.
In 2002, the House Oversight Committee investigated the President Clinton's pardons of Marc Rich and Pincus Green, two financiers who fled the country after being indicted (by Giuliani, then a U.S. attorney) of tax evasion and defying sanctions against Iran. The committee's report called the pardons "outrageous" and an abuse of his power, but concluded that "the nation must live with the consequences of them."
In 2015, the House of Representatives agreed to an amendment that would have barred Justice Department attorneys from working on Obama's clemency initiative, but the bill didn't pass.
Can a court overturn a pardon?
No. Court cases that have reviewed pardons have been concerned only with whether the pardon was properly delivered and accepted.
Those Navay dudes aint gonna do shit.
I just thought about back when I was a young enlisted Soldier, there was a saying that once you made (E7) Sergeant First Class, it took an Act of Congress to demote you. Gunnery Sergeant USMC, Chief Petty Officer Navy/CG, or First Sergeant in the USAF are equivalent ranks.
It was a common saying that meant that you had to do some vile, egregious shit for your Branch of Service to reduce you in rank and pay, etc., otherwise you were untouchable at that point, for the most part.
I did see two E8s in the same Cavalry Squadron reduced to the rank of E6 Staff Sergeant in Theater for faaaar less than any war crime.
This, in effect, ruined their careers because of time constraints associated with your rank. If you have [this many years in Service] you must have [this rank] or you will be Chaptered (forced) out. I think 15 years was the maximum one could remain at the rank of E6 or get the boot.
Okay you got me curious. What did they do to get demoted?
Not to mention, Biden is getting backlash for how he treated that immigrant at the townhall.
Trump isn’t going anywhere unless he is voted out. The Democrats are like the 3 stooges at the point.
Trump isn’t going anywhere unless he is voted out. The Democrats are like the 3 stooges at the point.
If you are an E7 or above, serving in a remote location that isn't served by Army and Air Exchange Service (AAFES) aka, a PX, you can enter into an arrangement with AAFES to operate a small Shoppette/PX and assume responsibility and liability for those goods.
They will distribute to the Soldier and you are essentially running a Small Business on the side. You don't have to pay up front for stock and supplies, they'll provide everything that you need.
Well, an Artillery Platoon Sergeant set one up. He wasn't a Cav Scout, but he set it up for the whole of FOB Naray. The Artillery was sent out to some positions outside of Naray to provide Fire Support for the Campaign that pushed us into Nuristan (Hindu Kush). The Cav Scouts from two different Units came back to Naray for a Refit but Smoke was out on mission so the PX was closed.
He kept the keys to the PX at the TOC so the First Sergeants each stole the keys and allowed their Scouts to go in and get what they wanted. The problem is, nobody collected any cash for Smoke...they wiped him out and he's left holding the bag for THOUSANDS of dollars of merch.
An AR 15-6 investigation revealed what had happened. It was found to be felonious and the First Sergeants were prosecuted.
I can’t blame the democrats. This is the real reason for impeachment. She is 86 and don’t have much more time. If trump appointments another judge. You can kiss progressive liberal agenda goodbye for at least 20-30 years.
It won’t matter who wins the election in 2020 or even 2024 when the GOP have supreme control of both the Supreme Court and the Circuit Lower Courts.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized (Published 2019)
The justice was admitted after experiencing chills and a fever and expects to be released as early as Sunday morning, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.
I was listening to the radio today when they were talking about RBG. I don't expect her to survive Trump's second term (yes, I am assuming Trump will win at this point).I can’t blame the democrats. This is the real reason for impeachment. She is 86 and don’t have much more time. If trump appointments another judge. You can kiss progressive liberal agenda goodbye for at least 20-30 years.
It won’t matter who wins the election in 2020 or even 2024 when the GOP have supreme control of both the Supreme Court and the Circuit Lower Courts.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized (Published 2019)
The justice was admitted after experiencing chills and a fever and expects to be released as early as Sunday morning, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.www.nytimes.com
Trump is the Commander in Chief and can do what he wants in relation to this. Trump is so triveling he doesn't understand what it means to have honor and abide by a code. This is to appeal to the Fox News crowd that loves a tough white guy. It's why police unions are welcome on Fox News but not the UAW. It's amazing that the base believes that this man with 2 divorces, who cheated on his current wife, with numerous alleged sexual assaults, numerous bankruptcies has more diginity than the people who have dedicated their lives to this country. Unfuckingbelieveable what racism can drive people to do.
It's like what I said about the the impeachment, the career State Department and military would testify. The political hacks won't testify until it becomes about saving their asses.
It's like what I said about the the impeachment, the career State Department and military would testify. The political hacks won't testify until it becomes about saving their asses.
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Only way Trump wins if the anti-vote ADOS movement and other factions drive down the democratic vote. The Dems don't need Obama levels of black votes, but all these I want a reparation gubment check or I'm staying home ninjas are going to make it difficult.
Truth be told, most of these ninjas are arm chair "I'm going to get you sucka" dusty militants who don't vote anyway.