Trump Slammed Over Tweeting ‘Glad I Could Help’ After Eddie Gallagher Acquittal: ‘US Military Atrocities Are Bad’
President Donald Trump tweeted that he was “glad” to help Eddie Gallagher after the U.S. Navy SEAL was acquitted of most of the charges leveled against him in connection to the death of an imprisoned Daesh fighter in 2017.
“Congratulations to Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, his wonderful wife Andrea, and his entire family,” the president tweeted on Wednesday. “You have been through much together. Glad I could help!”
Congratulations to Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, his wonderful wife Andrea, and his entire family. You have been through much together. Glad I could help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019
While the court-martial still found Gallagher guilty of taking a photo with the dead child fighter in Mosul, Iraq, he was not convicted of stabbing the detainee to death, which was the most severe charge initially made against him.
The reason for Trump’s tweet claiming he helped Gallagher shake his case may be a reference to the president’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, joining the SEAL’s legal defense. As Gallagher was prepping for trial in the spring, the president also helped by moving the SEAL to more comfortable confinement.
On Twitter, reporters and other media figures called into question how Trump helped, while others slammed the president for siding with a soldier found guilty of using a 12-year-old’s corpse as a morbid trophy and photo prop. Check out a few of the reactions below:
Huh? It’s not unlawful command influence if the commander in chief does it? Is Trump talking about anything more than his supportive tweets? https://t.co/32SY4NST0I
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) July 3, 2019
Gallagher was turned in by his own platoon, tried (and acquitted) on charges of war crimes including murder and attempted murder of civilians, and convicted of posing for a “trophy” photo with the corpse of a teenage ISIS fighter. https://t.co/SOQzymPzWa
— Alex Altman (@aaltman82) July 3, 2019
I wonder how the President thinks he was able to “help” Eddie Gallagher get a not guilty verdict https://t.co/PFvQmeNRgG
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 3, 2019
How does Trump make this about him? Also: Gallagher was found guilty of posing for photos with a dead body.
— Bill Shapiro (@Bill_Shapiro) July 3, 2019
I’m just going to connect the dots here and say it would be pretty likely that Trump would have pardoned Gallagher if he was found guilty of war crimes.https://t.co/zvKZBHl0Jj https://t.co/huKDS2OYoe
— Haleigh Hoffman (@HaleighHoffman) July 3, 2019
actually US military atrocities are bad
— District Sentinel (@TheDCSentinel) July 3, 2019
Reminder: Eddie Gallagher enjoyed murdering innocent people so much other SEALs had to sabotage his rifle and fire warning shots to save potential victims. https://t.co/sreoB7PnHU
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) July 3, 2019
[featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images]
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