Gallagher, who is represented by former partners of Rudy Giuliani, has become a right-wing cause, portrayed as a war hero unfairly punished for making “tough calls” in the heat of battle. “The President, as Commander-in-Chief, is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the law is enforced,” the White House said in a statement at the time. soldiers accused of committing war crimes-one had been convicted of killing two civilians and another was awaiting trial-and reversed Gallagher’s demotion. Earlier this month, he pardoned two other U.S. Trump, apparently, saw Gallagher’s case as a way to show the military who’s boss. Investigators also found that Gallagher had committed other violations of SEAL regulations, including drug use. Members of his own platoon broke with the elite special operations force’s code of silence to tell prosecutors of how he “gunned down a girl walking along a riverbank and an old man carrying a water jug, and threatened to kill fellow SEALs if they reported his actions,” as the New York Times reported in 2018. Gallagher was also accused of firing indiscriminately at civilians and obstructing an investigation, among other charges. Spencer’s ouster capped a showdown between Trump and the Navy, which had planned to expel Gallagher from the SEALs after his July conviction for posing with the corpse of an Islamic State captive in 2017. “I was not pleased with the way that Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s trial was handled by the Navy,” the president wrote, adding that he was also frustrated that “large cost overruns from past administration’s contracting procedures were not addressed to my satisfaction.” Therefore, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, ostensibly the one to blame for all this, had been “terminated by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.” On Sunday evening, Donald Trump announced what might be his umpteenth personnel change via tweet.
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