The Navy SEAL about to stand trial for war crimes should be given a “break” even if he is guilty, Republican congressman Duncan Hunter says.
Special Warfare Chief Edward Gallagher, 39, is accused of killing an injured teenage ISIS fighter and shooting civilians while deployed to Iraq in 2017.
“I frankly don’t care if he was killed; I just don’t care. That’s my personal point of view, and as a congressman, that’s my prerogative to help a guy out like that,” the California congressman told the hosts of the Zero Blog Thirty podcast. “Even if everything the prosecutors say is true in this case, Eddie Gallagher should still be given a break.”
Hunter, 42 and a former Marine Corps artillery officer, has been pushing President Trump to pardon Gallagher even before the start of his trial.
Hunter said he believes Gallagher deserves a pardon because of the flaws in the military bureaucracy and judicial system. “It’s just dumb, and it’s broken,” said Hunter, adding that there is a chronic misunderstanding of what deployed troops go through.
[Related: Potential Trump pardon for Eddie Gallagher splits Navy SEAL community]
Prosecutors allege Gallagher killed the injured fighter with a knife after Iraqi soldiers brought him to their base outside Mosul. Defenders have said Gallagher, a trained medic, actually provided aid to the fighter before he died of his wounds. At the center of the case is a mysterious video that purportedly shows the encounter. Hunter is one of the few people who have seen the video after the judge overseeing the case made an exception to a gag order, allowing some members of Congress to view it.
“I didn’t believe the charges against Eddie Gallagher. I’ve seen the video that the prosecution used to scare off a lot of people from helping him,” said Hunter. “I’ve talked to other SEALs that have served with him and simply didn’t believe the charges.”
Prosecutors say that after killing the fighter, Gallagher texted a photograph of himself next to the corpse, writing “got him with my hunting knife.” Hunter defended that Saturday during a town hall in San Diego County, acknowledging he also took a photo with a dead enemy fighter during his time in the Marine Corps deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. “[A] lot of us have done the exact same thing,” he said. “Eddie did one bad thing that I’m guilty of, too — taking a picture of the body and saying something stupid.”
Gallagher’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, maintained his client’s innocence and told the Washington Examiner the photo was nothing more than “dark humor” common among SEAL ranks.
Trump was rumored to be considering pardoning Gallagher and some other troops accused of crimes on Memorial Day, though he told reporters Friday he may wait until after their trials are concluded. Gallagher’s court-martial is scheduled to begin June 10.
