Former Navy commander Kirk Lippold, who commanded the USS Cole, told Fox News on Tuesday that former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer’s firing was justified by the way he handled the case of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher.
Lippold told “Fox & Friends” that Spencer acted without “integrity and ethics,” and said that it’s a “moot point” whether President Donald Trump “should have intervened” in the case.
"At the end of the day, when lives are at stake, we need military leadership on both the military and political side that has integrity. That was lacking in this case and for that alone, I think Secretary Spencer should have been fired," he said.
Gallagher was acquitted of murder and several other charges he was facing, but convicted of posing with the body of a dead ISIS combatant. He was sentenced to reduced rank and four months of confinement, which he had served already. The Navy also initially decided to remove his SEAL Trident pin, but Trump objected and had his rank restored. Defense Secretary Mark Esper later learned that Spencer had approached Trump privately to ask the White House to restore Gallagher’s rank and allow him to retire as a SEAL.
Esper ultimately dismissed Spencer, saying he lost his “confidence to continue in his position.”
"Look, right now as far as I'm concerned, when you look at what the Secretary did: every officer -- especially the admirals -- that condoned that unethical process of a review board that was about to be convened, their retirement papers should be on the desk as well because we can't afford that in the military," Lippold added.
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