Navy Secretary forced to resign after challenging Trump on SEAL criminal who posed with corpse

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer had the audacity to suggest the Navy and not the Entertainer-in-Chief Donald Trump should decide how to handle its own SEAL accused of war crimes, and for that, the Secretary was forced to resign, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper told multiple newspapers Sunday that he’s lost confidence in Spencer regarding how he handled Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was convicted of posing with the corpse of a captive while Gallagher was on deployment to Iraq in 2017.

Esper reportedly learned Spencer privately attempted to sway White House officials into being reasonable and restraining itself from interfering with the Gallagher case.

In exchange, Spencer allegedly promised to let Gallagher retire with his Trident, which could be up for grabs stripping him of the coveted SEALS participation, The Washington Post reported.

Esper, who wasn’t notified of the reported deal, told the newspaper in a statement that he was “deeply troubled by this conduct.”

“Unfortunately, as a result I have determined that Secretary Spencer no longer has my confidence to continue in his position," Esper said. "I wish Richard well.”

This follows Trump’s tweet Thursday that 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,” the president continued in the tweet. “Get back to business!”

Removing a Navy official’s Trident pin, which is supposed to be what’s at stake, revokes the coveted SEAL status, but doesn’t prevent the official from remaining in the military. Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence said in a media statement that the Navy has stripped 154 Tridents since 2011.

“The Navy follows the lawful orders of the President,” Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, a Navy spokesman, said on Thursday in a statement to Daily Kos. “We will do so in case of an order to stop the administrative review of SOC Gallagher’s professional qualification. We are aware of the President’s tweet and we are awaiting further guidance.”

Eric Carpenter, a law professor at Florida International University and former military lawyer, told The Wall Street Journal outside interference undercuts the Navy SEALS program.

“Navy SEALs are supposed to be the very best. If [Chief Gallagher] is allowed to keep his pin and stay in the force, the message to the SEALS, who have had a number of discipline problems lately, is to ride it out,” Carpenter said. “The Navy leadership is saying they need to get back to basics and that outside interference undercuts that.”

from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/2OBpl2E