Pentagon chief asks for Navy secretary's resignation over private proposal in Navy SEAL's case

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: WaPo

By Ashley Parker and Dan Lamothe

November 24, 2019 at 4:46 p.m. EST

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper asked for the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer on Sunday after losing confidence in him over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq, the Pentagon said.

Spencer’s resignation came in the wake of the controversial case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was accused of war crimes on a 2017 deployment. He was acquitted of murder but convicted in July of posing with the corpse of a captive.

Esper asked for Spencer’s resignation after learning that he had privately proposed to White House officials that if they did not interfere with proceedings against Gallagher, then Spencer would ensure that Gallagher was able to retire as a Navy SEAL, with his Trident insignia.

Spencer’s private proposal to the White House — which he did not share with Esper over the course of several conversations about the matter — contradicted his public position on the Gallagher case, chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/11/24/pentagon-chief-asks-navy-secretarys-resignation-over-private-proposal-navy-seals-case/

[TEB]

1. This is another trump fuck up

He has no reason well he should have never gotten involved

And seriously you don’t desecrate corpses even with pic that is so warped

[Nitram]

3. "Cleaning house in the military" could very well backfire for Dump.

Nobody with command experience will want to support a president who sides with a convicted war criminal over a career military officer with combat experience.

[TEB]

7. Exactly

All the higher officers and nco I knew were professional soldiers and I say this as I was only enlisted

[riversedge]

10. Trump just had to insert his big mouth into something he should have keep quiet on!

His vile ego directs his actions. No thinking.

[TomCADem]

2. Trump is Continuing to Clean House in the Military Ahead of the 2020 Elections

Make outrageous decisions, see who pushes back, then fire them.

[jpak]

4. Trump. Sinks. U.S. Navy.

[dalton99a]

15. +1. Putin now has virtual control over the U.S. military.

[IronLionZion]

17. That's a sweet looking sweater. Looks very warm

perfect for a cold calculating supervillain

[Scurrilous]

5. What a clusterfuck.

Thanks Trump!

[keithbvadu2]

6. SECDEF is part of SECNAV's chain of command.

Regardless of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher's status, SECDEF is part of SECNAV's chain of command.

He should not have gone directly to Trump.

[XRubicon]

8. This story is still changing, Spencer's resignation/termination letter

Last edited Sun Nov 24, 2019, 07:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Link to tweet

[bluestarone]

9. JESUS H CHRIST

What the fuck are the RETHUGS letting tRUMP do???? Fucking destroy our country every day!

[Recursion]

11. Holy shit

Wow

[Gothmog]

12. This is a great resignation letter

Link to tweet

?s=20

[mysteryowl]

13. Background story from NYT...

Chief Gallagher was turned in by his own platoon last spring. Several fellow SEALs reported that he had shot civilians and killed a captive Islamic State fighter with a custom hunting knife during a deployment in Iraq in 2017. He was also charged with obstruction of justice for threatening to kill SEALs who reported him.

Chief Gallagher was convicted of one charge: bringing discredit to the armed forces by posing for photos with the teenage captive’s dead body.

Mr. Trump announced that he was ordering the pardons of Clint Lorance, a former Army lieutenant who was serving a 19-year sentence for the murder of two civilians, and Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, an Army Special Forces officer who was facing murder charges for killing an unarmed Afghan he believed was a Taliban bomb maker. And the president reversed the demotion of Chief Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder charges but convicted of a lesser offense in his high-profile case.

While the Army carried out the president’s orders and dropped the matter, the Navy did so but also began disciplinary proceedings to strip Chief Gallagher of his Trident pin and oust him from the elite SEAL commando unit.

Mr. Trump was having none of it. On Thursday, he wrote on Twitter that “the Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin.” He added: “This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/us/politics/navy-secretary-richard-spencer-resign.html

[Zorro]

14. There's more to this story than Esper "losing confidence" in Spencer

[Marcuse]

16. March, 2016: Trump says he won't make troops commit war crimes

Just hours earlier, at Thursday's Republican debate, Trump reiterated his plans to "go tougher than waterboarding" on Islamic State group fighters and others threatening national security.

When asked if that includes past promises to have U.S. troops target terrorists' families, Trump said service members would follow his orders.

Earlier on Thursday, the last two men to win the Republican nomination for president — Mitt Romney and Sen. Jon McCain, R-Ariz. — both condemned Trump as too reckless and inexperienced to serve as commander in chief.

[link:https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2016/03/04/trump-says-he-won-t-make-troops-commit-war-crimes/|

[nitpicker]

18. From Military Times

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/11/24/spencer-out-as-secretary-of-the-navy-over-seal-trident-scandal/

Spencer out as Navy secretary over SEAL trident scandal

By: Carl Prine ?  10 hours ago

After losing the trust and confidence of the Secretary of Defense, Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer was asked Sunday to tender his resignation and exit the Pentagon.

In a prepared statement emailed to Navy Times, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper became concerned about Spencer’s “lack of candor over conversations with the White House involving the handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher,” an inside deal Spencer allegedly concocted with President Donald J. Trump.

Esper has asked Trump to consider Kenneth Braithwaite, the current U.S. ambassador to Norway and a retired Navy rear admiral, as the 77th Secretary of the Navy.
(snip)

[PuffedMica]

19. You can't fire me, I QUIT!

It is a mistake for civilian leadership to interfere in matters that are strictly military in nature. This is a case where Trump should have trusted the decisions of the military and just moved on.

[malthaussen]

20. Who'd a thunk one little sailor...

... could cause such an uproar?

-- Mal