Asawin Suebsaeng, Sam Brodey and Andrew Kirell, in their Daily Beast report published on May 20, discuss the case of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL platoon leader who is set to go to trial on May 28 for allegedly shooting civilians in Iraq in 2017. Gallagher is also accused of fatally stabbing a captured member of the terrorist organization ISIS (Islamic State, Iraq and Syria) who was receiving medical treatment in Iraq that year. And the article notes that Hegseth, a co-host of Fox News’ morning program “Fox and Friends,” has been urging Trump to pardon Gallagher as well as Maj. Mathew Golsteyn (who was accused of murdering an Afghan male detainee and burying the body in 2010).
Hegseth himself is a veteran of the Iraq War and formerly headed the right-wing group Concerned Veterans for America. And according to the Daily Beast’s sources, he has had multiple private conservations with Trump in 2019 and has specifically discussed Gallagher’s case with him.
View the complete May 21 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.