Navy secretary out over SEAL case

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, exposing the tension between the Pentagon and the White House due to the case of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. President Donald Trump said he would nominate Kenneth Braithwaite, a retired Navy rear admiral and current U.S. ambassador to Norway, to replace Spencer.

Why was Spencer fired? A military jury convicted Gallagher of posing with an enemy corpse in Iraq in 2017 and demoted him to chief. Trump intervened in Gallagher’s case last week and restored his rank. Pentagon officials and the White House disagreed over the Navy’s plan to hold a review board hearing next Monday to determine whether Gallagher should remain a SEAL. Esper on Sunday directed officials to cancel the hearing and allow the SEAL to retire at the end of the month with his rank intact.

Dig deeper: Read this Associated Press report for more behind-the-scenes detail, and read Spencer’s resignation letter for more information.