Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL pardoned by President Trump after being convicted of a war crime, may have endangered members of his platoon who testified against him by outing them.
Gallagher was arrested and charged with several war crimes in 2018, including stabbing a teenage Islamic State prisoner, killing civilians, and taking a photograph with the corpse of an ISIS fighter. A military court acquitted Gallagher on all charges except for taking a photograph with the corpse. In 2019, Trump pardoned Gallagher despite testimony from other Navy SEALs that claimed he was “perfectly OK with killing anybody” and should be punished.
In a video posted to Facebook, Gallagher said that he did not commit war crimes and that he wanted to “expose” the full truth about those who testified against him.
Gallagher said, “Even though I went to trial, exposed all the lies that were said about me by certain cowards in my platoon, and found not guilty, there are those to this day who refuse to accept that fact.”
Gallagher warned that the “truth was coming” for those who “slander” his name. He compiled clips of testimony from members of his platoon and signaled that there would be more information coming in a later video.
David Shaw, a former petty officer first class, told Stars and Stripes that Gallagher’s decision to include the testimony along with each member’s name and rank could threaten operational security for those still in active duty. He explained, “Attempting to call attention to (those SEALs’) status in the way it’s been done does not serve the mission or the interests of the Navy. To attempt to out (their) status raises questions about the decision to do so.”
This is not the first time Gallagher has attacked those who testified against him. He told the Washington Examiner in December that his “first reaction to seeing the videos was surprise and disgust that they would make up blatant lies about me, but I quickly realized that they were scared that the truth would come out of how cowardly they acted on deployment. I felt sorry for them that they thought it necessary to smear my name, but they never realized what the consequences of their lies would be.”
Trump’s decision to pardon Gallagher was highly controversial and eventually led to the firing of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer for his decision to go around Defense Secretary Mark Esper when expressing his concern about whether Gallagher would be allowed to retire with his full rank and without losing his Trident pin.
