Besieged by impeachment revelations, President Trump decided tonight to pardon three accused war criminals against the advice of the Pentagon.
Trump intervened in three cases involving war-crimes accusations, issuing full pardons to two U.S. soldiers and reversing disciplinary action against a Navy SEAL despite opposition raised by military justice experts and some senior Pentagon officials.
The White House said in a statement tonight that Trump, as commander in chief, is “ultimately responsible for ensuring that the law is enforced and when appropriate, that mercy is granted.”
The service members were notified by Trump over the phone late Friday afternoon, according to lawyers for Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn and former Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL. Golsteyn faced a murder trial scheduled for next year, while Gallagher recently was acquitted of murder and convicted of posing with the corpse of an Islamic State fighter in Iraq.
The third service member, former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, was expected to be released Friday night from prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
He was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and sentenced to 19 years for ordering his soldiers to open fire on three men in Afghanistan.
Golsteyn and Lorance received full pardons, while the president will direct the Navy to restore Gallagher to his previous rank, the White House said.
His demotion marked the only significant penalty he received following his acquittal on the murder charge.
The news came at the tail end of a day dominated by impeachment hearings against Trump and efforts by some senior Pentagon officials to change his mind, according to three U.S. officials.
The officials said some commanders have raised concerns that Trump’s move will undermine the military justice system.
Other U.S. officials and advocates for the service members have said that carrying out the president’s order should not be difficult.
The system has commanders overseeing the legal process in the military’s chain of command, with Trump serving at the top as commander in chief.
The Army said in a statement released on Friday night that it will implement the pardons of Golsteyn and Lorance, and acknowledged the president’s powers to grant pardons.
“The Army has full confidence in our system of justice,” the statement said. “The Uniform Code of Military Justice ensures good order and discipline for uniformed service members while holding accountable those who violate its provisions. The foundation of military law is the Constitution, and the Constitution establishes the President’s power to grant pardons.”
Phillip Carter, a former Army officer and Obama administration official, said that presidents have tended to support the military justice system and its verdicts to support good order and discipline.
The military, he said, has “worked for decades to lay the ghosts” of the Vietnam War and war crimes committed during it to rest, and Trump’s decision risks undermining that.
“Executive clemency like this introduces doubt into the chain of command, and creates uncertainty about accountability for breaches of military rules,” said Carter, who now studies national security for the Rand Corp.
The facts of the three cases Trump examined vary.
In Golsteyn’s, the Special Forces officer went from being regarded as one of the Army’s heroes in the Afghanistan war to under investigation in the 2010 death of an unarmed man in a combat zone.
The case first emerged after Golsteyn, who had been decorated with a Silver Star for valor on the same deployment, said during a polygraph test while applying for a job with the CIA that he had killed the man and burned his body.
Golsteyn said in a statement that his family is “profoundly grateful” for Trump’s action, and that they have lived in “constant fear of this runaway prosecution” by the Army.
“Thanks to President Trump, we now have a chance to rebuild our family and lives,” Golsteyn said. “With time, I hope to regain my immense pride in having served in our military. In the meantime, we are so thankful for the support of family members, friends and supporters from around the nation, and our legal team.”
Gallagher’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, said that his client received a phone call from the president and that Vice President Pence was also on the line.