Trump spars with Navy over sailor’s case

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that U.S. Navy leadership “will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,” which designates a sailor as a SEAL. The president intervened on Gallagher’s behalf last week at the same time he pardoned two U.S. Army officers of crimes committed in combat zones.

Why is Trump intervening? On Wednesday, the Navy notified Gallagher he would face a review early next month to determine if he should remain a SEAL. A military jury convicted Gallagher of posing with the corpse of an Islamic State (ISIS) fighter in Iraq in 2017, sentenced him to four months of time served, and demoted him to chief. Last week, Trump restored Gallagher’s rank. Capt. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for the Naval Special Warfare Command, said Tuesday that while the force restored Gallagher’s paygrade, the presidential intervention did not overturn his original conviction or expunge it from his record. Trump’s lawyers accused the Navy of trying to remove Gallagher’s SEAL designation in retaliation for Trump’s leniency.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift on Trump’s presidential pardons last week.