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Gallagher was convicted of bringing discredit to the armed services after posing next to a dead ISIS fighter’s body, which is against regulations. He was then demoted in rank — a decision President Donald Trump a week ago reversed in a move that angered military officials. Military officials then moved ahead with the process to review Gallagher’s status in the elite group.
Spencer was proposing a review with a secret guarantee that Gallagher would be allowed to keep his status as a Navy SEAL, the official said. Spencer, the official said, was not fired for failing to carry out Trump’s wishes, because the President had not wanted a review at all.
Spencer went around his own chain of command — namely Defense Secretary Mark Esper — and straight to the White House, a violation of military policy, the official said.
Esper on Sunday asked for Spencer’s resignation after “losing trust” and “confidence in him,” according to a statement released by Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman. Spencer’s private request to restore Gallagher’s rank and allow him to retire with his Trident pin directly contradicted his public position, according to the statement.
“I am deeply troubled by this conduct shown by a senior DOD official,” Esper said in the statement. “Unfortunately, as a result I have determined that Secretary Spencer no longer has my confidence to continue in his position. I wish Richard well.”
When asked for comment, a spokesman for Spencer directed CNN to the Pentagon’s statement.
The senior defense official said Esper first learned of Spencer’s conversations with the White House on Friday, but that Spencer’s proposal was never approved.
When Spencer then spoke over the weekend at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, Esper felt “his public statements did not match up” with what he had been doing privately, according to the official.
The President’s decision not only restored Gallagher’s rank but also pardoned two other service members, and in doing so he ignored advice from Esper and other top military officials.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Spencer and Rear Adm. Collin Green, the admiral overseeing the SEALs, threatened to resign over the possible intervention by Trump. Spencer denied later Saturday that either he or Green made any such threat.
Esper decided Gallagher would now keep his status because he “has little confidence that Gallagher would get a fair shake now from the Navy,” the official told CNN. Gallagher is now expected to retire from the Navy on November 30.
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