WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday fired the Navy’s top official, ending a stunning clash between President Donald Trump and top military leadership over the fate of a SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq.
Esper said he had lost confidence in Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and alleged that Spencer proposed a deal with the White House behind his back to resolve the SEAL’s case. Trump has championed the matter of Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder in the stabbing death of an Islamic State militant captive but convicted of posing with the corpse while in Iraq in 2017.
Spencer’s firing was a dramatic turn in the fast-changing and politically charged controversy. It exposed fissures in Trump’s relationship with the highest ranks of the U.S. military and raised questions about the appropriate role of a commander in chief in matters of military justice.
Gallagher was demoted from chief petty officer to a 1st class petty officer after his conviction by a military jury. Trump, however, restored Gallagher’s rank this month.
The situation escalated again in recent days.
On Wednesday, the Navy had notified Gallagher that he would face a Navy SEAL review board to determine if he should be allowed to remain in the elite force. While Trump then tweeted that he would not allow the Navy to remove Gallagher from the SEALs by taking away his Trident Pin, which designates a SEAL member, the White House told the Navy it could proceed as planned, according to a Navy officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
That initially appeared to diffuse the situation. The Navy SEAL review board was due to hear Gallagher’s case on Dec. 2.
Spencer, speaking Saturday at an international security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said that he did not consider a tweet by Trump a formal order to stop the Navy review board.
“I need a formal order to act,” Spencer said.
But on Sunday, Esper said he had learned that Spencer had “privately” proposed to the White House that Gallagher be allowed to retire in his current rank and without losing his status as a SEAL. Esper said Spencer had not told him of the proposal to the White House, causing him to lose “trust and confidence.”