President Trump intervened in the cases of three U.S. military members who had been accused of or convicted of war crimes.
Trump issued two full pardons on Friday, releasing former Army Lt. Clint Lorance from military prison and dismissing murder charges against Army Special Forces Maj. Mathew Golsteyn. He also restored Chief Petty Officer and Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher’s rank.
Lorance was locked in Fort Leavenworth military prison, serving a 19-year sentence for murdering two civilians. In 2012, he ordered his men to fire on three unarmed Afghan men on a motorcycle near their patrol. He then called for the platoon’s gun truck to engage the Afghan motorcyclists using a machine gun, killing two of them and wounding a third.
Golsteyn’s trial was scheduled to start next month after being charged in 2018 for killing a suspected Taliban bomb-maker during a 2010 deployment to Afghanistan. He first disclosed the incident in 2011 while applying for a job with the CIA. The Army investigated the matter, but it closed the case with no charges. However, he later publicly admitted to the killing during a 2016 appearance on Fox News, which reopened the case.
Trump had previously indicated that Golsteyn’s case was under White House review.
Gallagher was at the center of a high-profile trial over the summer in which he was acquitted of murder charges but found guilty of unlawfully taking a picture with the corpse of the ISIS fighter he was accused of killing, for which he was demoted one rank.
“The President, as Commander-in-Chief, is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the law is enforced and when appropriate, that mercy is granted. For more than two hundred years, presidents have used their authority to offer second chances to deserving individuals, including those in uniform who have served our country,” the White House said in a statement.
“As the President has stated, ‘When our soldiers have to fight for our country, I want to give them the confidence to fight,'” the administration added.
Trump’s intervention comes two weeks after Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth teased imminent “action” from him in the cases.
