Navy Seal Pardoned by Trump Highlights Personal Info of ‘Cowards’ Who Testified against Him
Retired Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher on Monday attacked his former comrades in arms who testified against him as “cowards,” calling troops out by name in a video he posted to his social media accounts.
In a three-minute video Gallagher posted on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, both of which have tens of thousands of followers, the former chief special operator, 40, included names and photos of specific troops as well as the duty status and current units of those still who are still active.
Gallagher was charged in 2018 with war crimes, including that he stabbed and killed an injured and sedated teenage ISIS prisoner and afterwards posed with the body for a photo. His fellow Navy SEAL snipers also accused him of shooting several civilians during his 2017 deployment to Iraq.
He was acquitted in July after a highly-publicized court-martial of all charges except one, that of posing with the ISIS teenager’s corpse. His Navy rank was reduced, his pay cut, and he was sentenced to four months of confinement.
During the trial President Trump requested that Gallagher not be held in a Navy brig but be transferred to house arrest. Later, the president also reversed Gallagher’s demotion by the Navy.
Now, Gallagher says he is in a “fight to clear my name.”
“For my entire adult life, I’ve had the honor and privilege of fighting for this country and your freedom,” Gallagher said in the video. “Even though I went to trial and exposed all the lies that were said about me by certain cowards in my platoon and found not guilty, there are those to this day who refuse to accept that fact.”
Some in the Navy criticized Gallagher’s decision to post the video exposing information about specific troops, saying it puts them in danger.
“Attempting to call attention to (those SEALs’) status in the way it’s been done does not serve the mission or the interests of the Navy,” David Shaw, a former petty officer 1st class told Task and Purpose. “To attempt to out (their) status raises questions about the decision to do so.”
“Each and every one of the guys who came forward were performers of the highest caliber and people of the highest reputations within the platoon,” Shaw added.
Since being pardoned by President Trump, Gallagher has launched a Navy Seal-themed lifestyle brands, hawking health and fitness products and clothing on social media.
