Trump says he’ll review officer’s case
Special Forces officer and veteran to face murder charge for confessed killing of suspected bomb maker.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that he will review the case of a former Special Forces officer and Afghanistan war veteran who was notified last week that he will face a murder charge in the death of a detainee suspected of being a Taliban bombmaker.
Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn was notified Thursday by the Army that he will face one charge of murder, his attorney and the Army said. The military has been investigating him since 2011, when Army officials said he confessed during a polygraph test as part of a CIA job interview to killing the suspected bombmaker in February 2010.
“At the request of many, I will be reviewing the case of a ‘U.S. Military hero,’ Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder,” Trump tweeted. “He could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas.”
It wasn’t clear Sunday what Trump’s “review” could include or whether he is considering pardoning Golsteyn if the Army convicts him of murder. The case is still under investigation, with an Article 32 hearing expected next year to review evidence. An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Loren Bymer, said that Golsteyn was recalled to active duty last week to face the charge.
A Pentagon spokesman, Army Col. Rob Manning, said Sunday that the allegations against Golsteyn are a “law enforcement matter,” and that the Defense Department will “respect the integrity of this process and provide updates when appropriate.”
Trump’s statement alone could complicate the military’s prosecution of Golsteyn. The president, as commander in chief, is expected in the military justice system to not make statements that could influence open cases. Doing so is considered unlawful command influence and can result in cases being thrown out.
Golsteyn’s attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, has disputed that Golsteyn’s statement to the CIA was characterized accurately by the Army.
The service launched an investigation into Golsteyn after the CIA alerted them to his job interview, but closed it without charging him. But the case was reopened in 2016, after Golsteyn said during a Fox News interview that he had killed a bombmaker, who had been held as a detainee, out of fear that the bombmaker would target Afghans helping U.S. troops if he were let go.
Golsteyn, a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., was lauded for his performance in Afghanistan as the commander of a team from 3rd Special Forces Group in the Battle of Marja.
On Feb. 20, 2010, Golsteyn coordinated numerous airstrikes and repeatedly braved enemy fire after launching a mission to kill a Taliban sniper who nearly hit a nearby Marine, according to a military summary of his actions. He was later awarded the Silver Star for valor, and the Army was considering upgrading the award to the Distinguished Service Cross when the allegations against Golsteyn emerged.
The accusations center on actions that occurred two days earlier. Two Marines were killed and others were wounded by a garage door that was booby trapped with explosives, prompting a search of nearby homes in which Golsteyn’s unit found bombmaking materials and a suspected bombmaker, according to the results of an investigation released to The Washington Post through the Freedom of Information Act in 2015.
Golsteyn later recounted during his CIA job interview that the U.S. troops detained the man and brought him back to their base. While detained, the suspected bombmaker unexpectedly crossed paths with an Afghan tribal leader with whom Golsteyn’s team was working. When the leader expressed fear for his life, Golsteyn said, he grew concerned about the consequences of letting the suspected bombmaker go, according to Army documents.