Trump’s personal intervention on military and civilian cases
WASHINGTON » Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a decorated Navy SEAL, was accused by other members of his unit of war crimes, including stabbing a wounded prisoner in Iraq who was awaiting medical care.
After a military trial delayed by prosecutorial misconduct, Gallagher was acquitted of murder this summer but convicted of posing for a photograph with the prisoner’s corpse. He had texted the picture with a caption: “Got him with my hunting knife.”
Gallagher said he was railroaded by subordinates who chafed under his leadership. He found a powerful ally in Fox News, which brought his case to the attention of a more powerful ally, President Donald Trump.
Over the weekend, Trump intervened to stop the Navy from stripping Gallagher of his membership in their elite ranks and taking away his SEAL badge, the Trident.
In doing that, Trump overruled his own secretary of defense, Mark Esper; his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley; his secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer; and the SEAL commander, Rear Adm. Collin Green.
“I’m standing up for our armed forces,” Trump said.
He was blunter last month. “We train our boys to be killing machines, then prosecute them when they kill!” he tweeted. Let’s add up the damage here. Trump has suggested U.S. troops shouldn’t be prosecuted formurdering civilians, even though it’s a violation of military law. In addition to Gallagher, he has pardoned three Army officers convicted in military courts of murder.
Trump hasmade clear that military justice can be derailed by anyone with wellconnected backing. And he’s undercut the authority of the Pentagon’s entire chain of command.
Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale, told me, “The president has weaponized the administration of the armed forces. Who gets promoted? Who gets to retain their aviator’s wings? Who gets to keep their rank? It depends on whether you have influential friends or a lawyer who can call the White House.”
Trump’s personal intervention in the administration of justice extends to civilian cases, too — at least when his friends are involved.
He has pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, one of his most vociferous allies; conservative author Dinesh D’Souza, another supporter; and Conrad Black, who wrote an enthusiastic book about Trump.
Trump also commuted the sentence of a woman serving life in prison — but only after reality television star Kim Kardashian West pleaded the woman’s case in the Oval Office.
None of these cases went through the Justice Department’s formal process for pardons and clemency. All were arranged through personal appeals to the president — a patronage channel.
Trump also often demands federal authorities investigate, or imprison, his critics, adversaries and political opponents. Meanwhile, the president and his lawyers say he’s immune fromevery kind of prosecution.
Through his pardons, both military and civilian, he’s sending a clear message: If you’re on his side, as former Navy Secretary Spencer put it, “You can get away with things.”
Trump often breaks “norms.” But his abuse of the pardon power, his sweeping assertions of immunity and his demands that the Justice Department bend to his will suggest what can happen if enough norms are broken over and over.
He has made the administration of justice an instrument to reward his friends and harass his adversaries.
He’s seeking to replace the rule of law with the rule of Trump.