The move drew a swift outcry about potential harm to the military justice system.
President Donald Trump, carrying through on a previous pledge, granted full pardons on Friday to a pair of Army officers convicted of or charged with war crimes — and also promoted a Navy SEAL who was tried and acquitted for similar violations of the laws of armed conflict.
The grants of clemency for Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance and Maj. Matthew Golsteyn — and the promotion to chief petty officer of Edward Gallagher, who had previously been demoted from that rank — were approved despite lingering concerns that such presidential interference will damage the integrity of the military justice system.
Lorance was found guilty by a military court on two counts of second-degree murder for ordering his soldiers to fire on three men in Afghanistan in 2008. He was convicted in part on the strength of the testimony of members of the infantry platoon he was commanding.
“He has served more than six years of a 19-year sentence he received,” the White House said Friday. “Many Americans have sought executive clemency for Lorance, including 124,000 people who have signed a petition to the White House, as well as several members of Congress.”
But not everyone who was there agrees.
“The guy’s a war criminal,” Andrew Duggins, a former Army captain who served with Lorance in the same unit of the 82nd Airborne Division at the time and who read sworn statements immediately of Lorance’s platoon-mates after the mission. “It’s clear cut and it shouldn’t be a partisan issue for Clint to be in jail for his full sentence. He was a bully and he was scared.”
“It was a nasty deployment,” Duggins added when told of the pardon on Friday. “That company had taken a number of casualties, and Clint’s attitude was ‘I’m just going to go out there guns blazing and make a statement.’ He was scared to go out and do missions, and this was one of his very first missions. Privates came back from that mission in tears because they were shocked, they knew how wrong it was, and they knew that he had given an illegal order.”
Golsteyn is still set to stand trial for the alleged extrajudicial killing of a suspected terrorist bomb-maker in Afghanistan in 2010.
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President Trump, carrying through on a previous pledge, granted full pardons to a pair of Army officers convicted of or charged with war crimes https://t.co/qHkVSsAvL3
— POLITICO (@politico) November 16, 2019
Mark Esper and other senior military leaders told Trump a presidential pardon could potentially damage the integrity of the military judicial system, the ability of military leaders to ensure good order and discipline, and the confidence of allies and partners who host US troops https://t.co/F9ORMrAasc
— Kyle Blaine (@kyletblaine) November 16, 2019
This is bad on so many levels, from international law to American civil military relations. It’s like the president is looking to maximize his damage in as many areas as he can reach in the shortest time possible. https://t.co/P8wJqG8QAh
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 16, 2019
“One day, from his sniper nest, Chief Gallagher shot a girl in a flower-print hijab who was walking w/ other girls on the riverbank. She dropped, clutching her stomach, & the other girls dragged her away.” Trump is preparing to pardon this war criminal. https://t.co/Lg9VDr6Ydx
— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) May 19, 2019
Navy to Trump: Shove offhttps://t.co/ZE9Civ3OKd
— John Schindler (@20committee) November 20, 2019
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