Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher claimed he is being retaliated against by military officials after President Trump stepped in to restore his rank and accused Navy Secretary Richard Spencer of “meddling” in his war crimes case.
Speaking with Fox & Friends on Sunday, Gallagher slammed Navy Rear Adm. Collin Green’s attempt to take his SEAL Trident insignia away after he was convicted of taking a photo with the dead body of an ISIS fighter he was accused of killing.
“This is all about ego and retaliation. This has nothing to do with good order and discipline,” he said. “They could have taken my trident at any time they wanted. Now they’re trying to take it after the president restored my rank and after we just filed an IG [complaint] exposing all of the corruption that’s been going on during my case, starting with ‘crying’ Craig Miller all the way up to Admiral Green.”
He continued, “Just recently, we’ve come up with more evidence that we’ll be exposing next week that the secretary of the Navy was actually meddling in my case and trying to get organizations not to support me while I was incarcerated.”
On Nov. 15, Trump cleared three military members who had been accused or convicted of war crimes. Among them was Gallagher, who saw his rank restored as a result of the president’s move after he had been at the center of a high-profile trial in which he was acquitted of murder charges but found guilty of unlawfully taking a picture with the corpse of an ISIS fighter, for which he was demoted one rank.
Navy officials were subsequently accused by Gallagher’s lawyers of “conspiring” to strip him of his SEAL Trident. On Thursday, however, the president tweeted, “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. Get back to business.”
It has been reported that Spencer is weighing whether to quit over Trumpâs interference in the case, but he has denied the rumors.
