Navy Is Said to Proceed With Disciplinary Plans Against Edward Gallagher

[spanone]

Top military officials threatened to resign or be fired if their plans to remove Chief Gallagher from the SEALs were halted by President Trump, administration officials said.



Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, right, and President Trump in July.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, right, and President Trump in July.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
The secretary of the Navy and the admiral who leads the SEALs have threatened to resign or be fired if plans to expel a commando from the elite unit in a war crimes case are halted by President Trump, administration officials said Saturday.

The Navy is proceeding with the disciplinary plans against the commando, Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who counts Mr. Trump as one of his most vocal supporters. After reversing a demotion in recent days, the president suggested on Thursday that he would intervene again in the case, saying that the sailor should remain in the unit.

The threats by the Navy secretary, Richard V. Spencer, and the commander, Rear Adm. Collin Green, are a rare instance of pushback against Mr. Trump from members of the Defense Department. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, scrambled to come up with a face-saving compromise this past week in the hope that Mr. Trump could be persuaded to change his mind.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump, referring to the pin that signifies membership in an elite force, said on Twitter that “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin.” He added: “This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/23/us/politics/navy-discipline-edward-gallagher.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[Leghorn21]

1. Hang tough, sirs

”The secretary of the Navy and the admiral who leads the SEALs have threatened to resign or be fired if plans to expel a commando from the elite unit in a war crimes case are halted by President Trump, administration officials said Saturday.”

THANK YOU

[dhill926]

2. K & R...

[Leghorn21]

3. More from nbc, span...Spencer "deeply, deeply upset"

Breaking via NBC: Military leaders hoping to keep the
Secretary of the Navy from quitting lobbied Trump aboard
Air Force One to stop intervening in the case of a Navy
SEAL accused of murder, say five current and one former
military and defense officials.

Link to tweet

...Four officials familiar with Spencer’s thinking say he is strongly considering resigning and will do so if Trump signs a written order to end the Navy probe. He conveyed those feelings to Pentagon leaders on Thursday.

“He is deeply, deeply upset by this and believes it undercuts his authority,” one former Navy official said, adding that it also undercuts Rear Adm. Collin Green, commander of the Navy’s Special Warfare Command, who ordered the review and is trying to maintain good order and discipline in the SEAL community....

[spanone]

4. Thanks! Remember 'I know more than the Generals...' trump

[SunSeeker]

12. Why do I get the feeling Trump wouldn't have intervened if the guy wasn't white, with a blonde wife?

[RVN VET71]

15. Spot on!

Had the dude been black -- and, worse! -- black with a blonde wife, Trump wouldn't have cared if he'd been executed for murder. To go a step further: even if the hypothetically black and blonde-espoused sailor were innocent, Trump would lobby heavily for a guilty verdict and execution.

The Seals represent the best of the best American warriors, but the worst of the best are terrible, and, as in this case, murderously racist. Don't misunderstand: I admire and honor the work that the Seals have done and continue to do to keep this country safe, and appreciate that by far the greater number of them are staunchly patriotic, decent, and courageous. But reputation of the the entire organization is tarnished by the inexcusably barbaric actions of men such as Gallagher. Had he a shred of honor, he'd resign and apologize for dragging the organization's name through the mud of his own savage lack of discipline, and voluntarily give up the much honored trident pin. (Yeah, I know, that ain't gonna happen.)

[SunSeeker]

19. Meanwhile, he's been deporting brown vets, sending them to their doom.

Marine Veteran Is Deported to El Salvador

A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan was deported to El Salvador this week after several failed attempts to stay in the United States, where he had lived since he was 3 and had been convicted of several felonies, his lawyer and immigration officials said.

The case was another chapter in the contentious debate over how the United States’ immigration system handles military veterans who are not citizens and have been convicted of crimes, leaving them open to deportation.

The deported man, Jose Segovia-Benitez, 38, who grew up in Long Beach, Calif., is in hiding in El Salvador after his removal on Wednesday, his lawyer, Roy Petty, said on Thursday night. Mr. Segovia-Benitez’s background in the United States military makes him a target for kidnapping by gangs, Mr. Petty said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/us/jose-segovia-benitez-ice-deport-veteran.html

[RVN VET71]

25. Can hardly speak about this, my anger chokes me.

Bone-freaking-spurs can't doff his white hood long enough even to acknowledge military service to our country by those he deems inferior. Born with a golden spoon up his arse, he thinks he is somehow superior to people of color who through their labor and courage are struggling to boot-strap themselves and their families into society as productive citizens.

[BKDem]

5. What does Donald Trump know about military justice?

Or justice? Or compassion? Or human decency?

He just thinks there might be a couple of vote in it for him.

[3catwoman3]

6. He knows as much about military justice as he knows...

...about any other aspect of the job he currently holds - FUCKING NOTHING!!!

[BKDem]

7. He knows fuck-all about MOST things.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

30. "Nobody knows more about _______ than me..."

[sakabatou]

24. He knows nothing

[RichardRay]

8. Remember the primary purpose of military justice

It’s military first, justice second. Even trumpists who otherwise might support DJT’s shenanigans can see the impact this move by DJT has on Chain of Command, Force Readiness and Unit Cohesion (three sacred values in the military). In this case, justice had been(at least partially) served, and changing the outcome doesn’t serve the military part, either.

One more example of DJT’s gross ignorance.

[mopinko]

10. i'm guessing they hate this fucker now.

the military has many, many reasons to just plain hate his stupid ass.
my nephew recently quit his pentagon job over the meddling of cheato's people.

[Aristus]

28. Some are still slavishly kissing Trump's ass and making excuses for him.

A guy I served with in the Gulf in 1991 posted so many "Is that all the Dems got?" memes on Facebook that I had to snooze him for a month.

[mudstump]

9. EVERYTHING Trump touches turns to shit!

[SunSeeker]

11. Good. nt

[90-percent]

13. I know why

trump thinks anybody that murders muzzie children in cold blood is his kinda guy.

-90% Jimmy

[Phoenix61]

14. Good for them. I'm not surprised.

Nothing good would have come out of allowing him to remain a SEAL team member.

[Karadeniz]

16. It's all about him. Every nook and cranny that his authoritarianism can worm into, it will.

He is obsessed with possessing ultimate power. His sense of self is so minute, he can't find it. He only knows he is important when subservience by others reflects back to him as importance.

[Demovictory9]

17. uh oh, trump gonna be angry

[Pepsidog]

18. Demented Trump thinks stopping military justice makes him a tough guy. He such a F'en dope. Trump

was never the cool kid in school. He was the class asshole and is still trying to act like a tough guy. True hallmarks of a yellow-belly coward.

[CanonRay]

20. Nice to see people standing up for what is right

[orangecrush]

21. If highest ranking military start resigning

We are in seriously deep shit.

Trump is unfit to be CIC, and this means the military brass agrees.

This cannot end well.

[gratuitous]

22. A "rare instance of pushback"

How often does the President get involved in court martial judgments and overrule line officers? That could be why pushback is so rare, maybe?

[JohnnyRingo]

23. Donald Trump has a gigantic ego.

Certainly the most self important man to hold the office, but if he thinks a Special Forces Navy Admiral will back down from a chicken hawk he's going to be sadly disappointed.

We don't know how the Seals feel about Gallagher, and we never will, but they're the ones who reported him. I'm going to the concessions stand to get some popcorn. Anybody want some?

[Cousin Dupree]

26. Acting just like a dictator. But why would he be so interested in this case?

[Cosmocat]

27. clearly his MO ...

This is what he has done even before he got into the Oval Office.

He attacks the normative systems by putting those with honor and integrity in a position to have to defend the system in a way that never has been done - it weakens them and emboldens the "trumpists" within those systems.

He did in the DOJ, State department, etc. Has probed the military with it, but this is the most blatant attack.

Doing this weakens those at the top who are not his toadies, and gins up those in the next level who are up for what he is doing to potentially break ranks.

He is a moron, he is a complete incompetent, he isn't playing chess.

But, his master skill is stoking the lesser aspects of the human spirt, and just goes back to what his instincts tell him to do, and what keeps working.

[Cousin Dupree]

29. Well said. Thanks very much.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

31. Trumpy ain't going to be too happy

Fuck him