Richard Spencer torches Trump in op-ed about ouster

Source: Politico

By EVAN SEMONES
11/27/2019 07:48 PM EST

Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Wednesday sharply criticized President Donald Trump for intervening in the case of a Navy SEAL charged with war crimes.

Trump “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,” Spencer wrote in a Washington Post op-ed after being ousted Sunday from his position over a possible compromise that would have allowed Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher to retire as a SEAL rather than being removed from the elite force.

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. Trump restored his rank to chief petty officer earlier this month after reports indicated that a Navy board was considering removing him.
Story Continued Below

Spencer used the op-ed to provide his account of events leading up to his departure.

“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. “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."

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/27/richard-spencer-op-ed-trump-074323