Troops’ pardon papers in works
Trump asks for paperwork ahead of holiday, 2 officials say
President Donald Trump has requested the immediate preparation of paperwork needed to pardon several U.S. military members accused or convicted of war crimes — including high-profile cases of murder, attempted murder and desecration of a corpse — indicating that he plans to pardon the men on or around Memorial Day, according to two U.S. officials.
The requests include Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of the Navy SEALs, who is scheduled to stand trial in the coming weeks on charges of shooting unarmed civilians and killing an enemy captive with a knife while deployed in Iraq.
They are also believed to include the case of a former Blackwater security contractor recently found guilty in the deadly 2007 shooting of dozens of unarmed Iraqis; the case of Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, the Army Green Beret accused of killing an unarmed Afghan in 2010; and the case of a group of Marine Corps snipers charged with urinating on the corpse of a dead Taliban fighter.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said they did not know if other service members were included in the request for pardon paperwork.
The White House sent requests Friday to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, which alerted the military branches, according to one senior military official. Pardon files include background information and details on criminal charges, and in many cases include letters describing how the person in question has made amends.
The official said while assembling pardon files typically takes months, the Justice Department stressed that all files would have to be complete before Memorial Day weekend because the president planned to pardon the men then. A second U.S. official confirmed the request concerning Gallagher.
The military branches referred questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment on the matter.
Trump has often bypassed traditional channels in granting pardons and has wielded his power freely, often in politically charged cases that resonate with him personally, such as the conviction of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz. This month, the president pardoned former Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, who had been convicted of killing an Iraqi during an interrogation in 2008.
While the requests for pardon files are a strong indication of the president’s plans, Trump has been known to change his mind. The White House declined to comment.
It is not clear what the impetus was for the requests, but most of the troops who are positioned for a pardon have been championed by conservative lawmakers and media organizations, such as Fox News, which have portrayed them as being unfairly punished for trying to do their jobs. Many have pushed for the president to intervene.
Pardoning several accused and convicted war criminals at once, including some who have not yet gone to trial, has not been done in recent history, legal experts said.
Some worried that it could erode the legitimacy of military law, and undercut good order and discipline in the ranks.
“These are all extremely complicated cases that have gone through a careful system of consideration. A freewheeling pardon undermines that whole system,” said Gary Solis, a retired military judge and armor officer who served in Vietnam.
“It raises the prospect in the minds of the troops that says, ‘Whatever we do, if we can get the folks back home behind us, maybe we can get let off.’”