U.S. Navy Secretary says he did not threaten to resign

The U.S. Navy Secretary has shut down reports that he threatened to quit after President Donald Trump waded into the case of a Navy SEAL convicted of misconduct on the battlefield.

Speaking at a security conference on Saturday - Secretary Richard Spencer said this:

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. NAVY SECRETARY RICHARD SPENCER SAYING:

"I'm still here. I did not threaten to resign."

His comments contradict a New York Times report that he made the threat in a disagreement with President Trump on whether Navy Seal Edward Gallagher should face a board of peers to determine whether he should be removed from the elite force.

Spencer told Reuters on Friday that he should because the "process matters for good order and discipline."

It all started last week, when Trump ordered Gallagher's rank be restored after a military jury in July acquitted him of murdering an ISIS fighter but convicted him of posing for pictures with the corpse.

He was spared a prison sentence, but was demoted in rank and pay grade for his conviction.

And on Tuesday the Navy notified him that a panel of fellow Navy commandos would convene on Dec. 2 to review his case and recommend whether he is fit to remain a SEAL.

A decision as to whether Gallagher is ejected from the SEALs, stripping him of his special warfare Trident Pin, ultimately rests with the Navy's personnel command in Washington.

But Trump later lashed out on Twitter, saying, "The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher's Trident Pin."

Spencer said that a tweet did not constitute an official order and he needed a formal order from the President to stop the Navy from moving forward.