House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said he backs President Donald Trump’s clearing of three members of the armed services in cases involving allegations of war crimes, telling Fox News on Sunday that the decision has bolstered morale among the troops.
Although senior Pentagon officials advised Trump against the decision because they claimed it would undermine the military justice system, Scalise said, “I've heard from our men and women in uniform in battlefield for years that they felt that they were sidelined, because they needed a team of attorneys before they could return fire on a battlefield.”
The congressman stressed there have been many, "concerns expressed over the years that many of our men and women in uniform that were out battling terrorists in the battlefield were being put in a position where they had to think about whether or not if they returned fire, if they defended themselves," adding that “Some of these people mentioned that were killed were terrorists."
Trump granted two pardons Friday for Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn and Army Lt. Clint Lorance, according to The Hill.
Golsteyn was charged with murder of an alleged Taliban bomb maker while he was deployed in Afghanistan in 2010. Lorance, who has served six years of his 19-year prison sentence, was found guilty in 2013 of murder in the second degree for ordering his soldiers to fire on three unarmed Afghan men riding a motorcycle near his patrol.
Trump also reversed the demotion of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder charges but convicted of a lesser offense.
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