Pardoned war criminal Army First Lt. Clint Lorance gave a big thank you to President Trump saying ‘I love you sir’ in his first interview since being released from prison.
The 34-year-old was serving a 19-year sentence for second-degree murder for ordering troops under his command to open fire on three unarmed Afghan men riding motorcycles in Afghanistan in July 2012.
Two of those men died but Lorance and his supporters remain adamant that they were enemy combatants.
The military disagreed, and the Pentagon strongly opposed the pardon.
Trump officially pardoned Lorance and ordered for his release on November 15, after the army lieutenant had served six years at the Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas.
‘I can’t say enough. You know. I’m so happy to be an American,’ Lorance said on Fox & Friends Monday morning, his first interview since his release. ‘I’m just so glad that we’re part of this, amazing country. And it’s got such great, impassioned leadership, and it’s amazing.’
Lorance said he received a personal phone call from Trump prior to his release.
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Lorance: ‘If the president is watching, what do you want to say to him?’
‘I love you, sir. You’re awesome,’ he replied with a smile.
‘I’ll say this, Mr. President, I wish you had a better team around you. You need more people watching your back. And I think you don’t have a lot of that. And that is absolutely unfortunate. And that infuriates me to no end.’
Lorance revealed that he was hoping Trump would be elected into the White House and saw it as the only way he could be released.
He then slammed the military justice system as ‘absolutely broken’.
‘The military justice system is absolutely broken. It’s absolutely broken. I’ve got people still sitting in Fort Leavenworth and I will not give up on them. And I know President Trump’s not going to give up on them,’ Lorance said.
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden condemned Lorance’s pardon saying Trump’s actions ‘betrays the rule of law’, adding ‘He is not fit to command our troops’.
Trump’s intervention in the American military justice system to pardon service members accused or convicted of war crimes betrays the rule of law, the values that make our country exceptional & the men and women who wear the uniform honorably. He is not fit to command our troops.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 17, 2019
Lorance hit back in the interview saying the former vice president was likely pandering for political purposes.
‘With all due respect to the former vice president, that seems to be a partisan answer. That seems to be something that he’s just toeing the party line on. I highly doubt the vice president, being the patriotic man with a son in the military like he had, I highly doubt that he really believes that,’ he said.
Lorance revealed that imprisonment, in the end, made him a better, more patriotic man.
‘It turned me into a better person and gave me the opportunity to get closer to this country,’ he said.
‘Little tiny towns around the country, all over the place — they’re packed full of awesome people. Going through something like that, they reach out to you through the mail. And it really reminds you of how amazing this country is that we live in. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate President Trump and Vice President Pence. And I just — I love them. They’re awesome. They’re great people,’ he added.
On November 15 Trump not only pardoned Lorance, but he also cancelled the murder charges against Army Green Beret Major Mathew L. Golsteyn, whose trial was set to begin next month. He also reversed the demotion of Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was acquitted of murder, but convicted on a lesser charge in a war crimes case this summer.
Trump explained his decision in pardoning Lorance and two other service men in a White House statement saying: ‘The president, as Commander-in-Chief, is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the law is enforced and when appropriate, that mercy is granted’.
Experts have argued Trump is setting a dangerous precedent overriding the military justice system.