US Navy chief fired over SEAL saga

WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday fired the Navy's top official, ending a stunning clash between President Donald Trump and top military leadership over the fate of a SEAL accused of battlefield misconduct in Iraq.

Esper also determined that the sailor in question, Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, should be allowed to retain his Trident pin designating him as a SEAL, effectively ending the Navy's efforts to carry out a peer review that could have ousted him from the elite fighting force.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was forced out on Sunday, after Esper requested his resignation over a compromise Spencer had privately proposed to the White House that would have allowed Gallagher to retire as a SEAL.

Trump, who publicly opposed taking away Gallagher's Trident pin, had intervened in the case to restore his rank. He cheered the moves.

"Eddie will retire peacefully with all of the honors that he has earned, including his Trident Pin," Trump said on Twitter.

Spencer last week suggested a possible split with Trump by telling Reuters that Gallagher should still face a peer review board.

The SEAL was acquitted by a military jury in July of murdering a captured and wounded Islamic State militant in Iraq by stabbing him in the neck, but it convicted him of illegally posing for a photo with the detainee's corpse. That had led to his rank being reduced.

The White House said in November that Trump had restored Gallagher's rank and had pardoned two Army officers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan. Critics had said such actions would undermine military justice and send a message that battlefield atrocities will be tolerated.

In a letter acknowledging his termination, and seen by Reuters, Spencer took parting shots at Trump and defended the need to preserve "good order and discipline throughout the ranks" - something Navy officials had believed the peer review board would help ensure.

"The rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries," Spencer wrote.

"Unfortunately it has become apparent that in this respect, I no longer share the same understanding with the Commander in Chief who appointed me."

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, commended Spencer for "standing up to President Trump when he was wrong, something too many in this administration and the Republican Party are scared to do."

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman offered a different version of events leading up to Spencer's dismissal, saying Spencer also had a private line of communications with the White House.

"Secretary Spencer had previously and privately proposed to the White House - contrary to Spencer's public position - to restore Gallagher's rank and allow him to retire with his Trident pin," Hoffman said.

Agencies