Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, following his acquittal of murder and other charges in connection with the death of a captive Islamic State (ISIS) fighter, said Wednesday he wants to make it clear that the officers who "decided to concoct this story" do not represent the community he "loved and gave my soul to."
"This has put a black eye on this community, but I want the nation to know that this is not what our community is about," Gallagher, who appeared on Fox News' "Fox and Friends" Wednesday with his wife Andrea and his attorney Tim Parlatore. "This community is full of elite warriors. I've been honored and blessed to work with [them] the past 20 years. I thank everybody that is still serving this community."
Gallagher was found guilty of posing for unofficial pictures with a human casualty and is to be sentenced on that charge later in the day. He faces up to four months imprisonment but has already served several months behind bars.
He told Fox News Wednesday that he believes attempts were made to frame him as a criminal from the beginning, but "we knew the truth the whole time."
Parlatore said his team had to prove not only that the claims against Gallagher were false, but to explain to the military jury why his fellow SEALs would have said what they did.
"During certain periods of time when they relaxed standards, they had a large influx of people into the community and so they, they weren't up to Eddie Gallagher's standards, so that caused some friction," said Palatore. "They, they decided to do something that I'm sure that they now regret."
His wife added that it was a "surreal moment" when justice was served.
"Now everyone in the country is able to see what we've seen all along, which is my husband is a hero," she said.
Even with the trial, Gallagher said he would not trade back his 20 years of service.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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