Fired Navy secretary defends handling of controversial SEAL case

FAN Editor

Richard Spencer, the former Navy secretary who was forced to step down over his handling of a controversial case involving a Navy SEAL, defended his actions in an interview with CBS News correspondent David Martin on Monday, his first since he was fired Sunday.

The Navy demoted SEAL Edward Gallagher after he was convicted of posing for a photo with the corpse of a captured ISIS fighter in Iraq. He was acquitted of other charges, including murdering the captured fighter and threatening fellow SEALs. President Trump ordered his rank restored, but the Navy began an administrative review of Gallagher’s Trident pin, which denotes his membership in the SEALs. Mr. Trump tweeted last week that he would be allowed to keep the pin.

“What were the ramifications of intervening in that review process?” Martin asked.

“Uh, well, right now, we’re not going to do it, is what Secretary Esper says. What message does that send to the troops?” Spencer said.

“Well, what message does it send?” Martin asked.

“That you can get away with things. We have to have good order and discipline. It’s the backbone of what we do, and the Trident review process with the senior enlisted reviewing fellow senior enlisted is critical. The senior enlisted of our military are the backbone of our military. They are the girder of good order and discipline. They can handle this, they can handle this in each one of their communities,” Spencer said.


Watch more from Martin’s interview with Spencer on the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” on Monday, November 25, at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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