Trump says he’s weighing a few war crimes pardons for soldiers
Bloomberg News
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he is considering pardoning U.S. military members accused or convicted of war crimes despite warnings from former officials and Democrats that doing so would undercut military law and imperil troops overseas.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday in Washington, when asked if he’s considering war crimes pardons, that he’s monitoring several cases and may wait until after legal proceedings to make a decision.
“”We’re looking at a lot of different pardons for a lot of different people,” Mr. Trump said before he left for Japan. “Some of these soldiers are people that have fought hard and long.”
He added: “We teach them how to be great fighters, and then when they fight, sometimes they get really treated very unfairly, so we’re going to take a look at it.”
Mr. Trump didn’t identify specific cases. Conservative lawmakers and commentators have championed some military members, including Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher, as potential pardon recipients. Chief Gallagher, a Navy SEAL, is awaiting military trial over multiple war crimes charges, including that he killed a teenage combatant for Islamic State in 2017.
The potential pardons were reported earlier by The New York Times.
Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Barack Obama, warned in a May 21 tweet: “Absent evidence of innocence or injustice the wholesale pardon of US service members accused of war crimes signals our troops and allies that we don’t take the Law of Armed Conflict seriously. Bad message. Bad precedent. Abdication of moral responsibility. Risk to us. #Leadership”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, called Mr. Trump’s consideration of pardons “very troubling.”
“If he follows through, President Trump would undermine American treaty obligations and our military justice system, damage relations with foreign partners and give our enemies one more propaganda tool,” Ms. Feinstein said in a statement.