{"id":27546,"date":"2019-11-28T00:46:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T00:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/28\/fired-navy-leader-highly-critical-of-trump-in-seal-case\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:34:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:34:45","slug":"fired-navy-leader-highly-critical-of-trump-in-seal-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/11\/28\/fired-navy-leader-highly-critical-of-trump-in-seal-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired Navy leader highly critical of Trump in SEAL case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The controversy around the case of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher claimed the Secretary of the Navy amid wrangling over whether or how to punish the SEAL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Richard Spencer, who was fired this week for his handling of a SEAL war crimes <\/a>case championed by President Donald Trump, wrote Wednesday that the commander in chief \u201chas very little understanding\u201d of how the American military works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extraordinary accusation came in an opinion piece published on The Washington Post<\/a>\u2019s website Wednesday evening, three days after he was fired. Spencer called Trump\u2019s intervention in the case of Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher \u201cshocking\u201d and unprecedented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer was fired Sunday by Defense Secretary Mark Esper for working a private deal with the White House to ensure that Gallagher be allowed to retire without losing his SEAL status. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his Post article, Spence acknowledged his mistake, but also asserted that Trump\u2019s actions were detrimental to the military<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer said Trump had involved himself in the Gallagher case \u201calmost from the start,\u201d by telephoning Spencer even before the SEAL\u2019s court-martial started to ask that Gallagher be moved out of confinement at a Navy brig. Spencer said he resisted Trump because the presiding judge had decided that confinement was important. Nonetheless, Trump ordered Spencer to transfer Gallagher from the brig to the equivalent of an enlisted barracks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer said he believes Trump\u2019s interest in the case stemmed partly from the way Gallagher\u2019s defense lawyers and others \u201cworked to keep it front and center in the media.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Gallagher was acquitted of most charges but convicted of posing with the corpse of an Islamic State extremist in Iraq, he submitted his request to retire. In Spencer\u2019s telling, that raised three questions for the Navy, including whether Gallagher should be allowed to retire at his current rank. The military jury had said he should be demoted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump short-circuited the Navy\u2019s administrative review of Gallagher\u2019s status by ordering Spencer to restore Gallagher\u2019s rank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review,\u201d Spencer wrote. \u201cIt was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Trump tweeted that Gallagher must be allowed to keep his Trident pin, the medal that designates a SEAL member. The Navy had planned to let an administrative board review the question starting Monday, but eventually Esper decided to stop that process and let Gallagher retire as a SEAL, as Trump had ordered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier Wednesday, the Navy announced that it had canceled the peer-review boards for three SEAL officers who supervised Gallagher during the Iraq deployment that gave rise to the war crimes charges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the case was becoming a distraction for the commando force, known for its quiet professionalism but recently roiled with controversy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision was the latest twist in the Gallagher matter. Trump has made no mention of the three SEAL officers also ordered to be reviewed. All three had overseen Gallagher during his 2017 deployment to Iraq. <\/p>\n\n\n\t