![]() ![]() Trump has said he will nominate Rear Adm. “Our allies need to know that we remain a force for good, and to please bear with us as we move through this moment in time,” he wrote. military partners, asking for their understanding. “That was, I see in retrospect, a mistake for which I am solely responsible.” “I also began to work without personally consulting Defense Secretary Mark T. Spencer also reflected on his decision to broker a private compromise with the White House on Gallagher. “I’m sure it hurts to lose your position, but the president stands by his decision, and he was there,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News. The White House has criticized Spencer, who appeared Monday on CBS News. “This was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review,” Spencer said. According to his account, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called Spencer to say Trump would “remain involved” and, in a later phone call, said the president would order him to restore Gallagher’s rank. Spencer wrote that he sent Trump a note asking him to not intervene in Gallagher’s case. “I came to believe that Trump’s interest in the case stemmed partly from the way the defendant’s lawyers and others had worked to keep it front and center in the media.” ![]() “Before the trial began … I received two calls from the president asking me to lift Gallagher’s confinement in a Navy brig I pushed back twice, because the presiding judge, acting on information about the accused’s conduct, had decided that confinement was important,” he said. ![]() Spencer used the op-ed to provide his account of events leading up to his departure. Trump restored his rank to chief petty officer earlier this month after reports indicated that a Navy board was considering removing him. Gallagher, who was acquitted of murdering a teenage prisoner of war in Iraq, was demoted after being found guilty of posing for photographs with the POW’s body. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |