Trump Reverses Navy Decision to Oust Edward Gallagher From SEALs

“The Navy follows the lawful orders of the president,” Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, the Navy’s chief of information, said in statement on Thursday evening. Using an abbreviation for the chief’s rank and status, the admiral wrote, “We will do so in case of an order to stop the administrative review of S.O.C. Gallagher’s professional qualification. We are aware of the president’s tweet and we are awaiting further guidance.”

The whipsaw reversal, after the Navy believed it had official approval to act, is the latest twist in the unusually public melee over Chief Gallagher, which has exposed a struggle in the SEALs to rein in rogue operators, while at the same time pitting the commander in chief directly against his senior Navy leaders

The Navy’s decision to start the process to oust Chief Gallagher, along with three SEAL officers who supervised him in Iraq, was not made in haste, according to Navy and Defense Department officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Admiral Green had discussed the matter with Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer and the chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, and the Navy briefed Defense Secretary Mark Esper about it.

In the hours before Admiral Green issued formal notification letters to the four SEALs, two of the officials said, the Navy had reached out to the White House for clearance multiple times and had not received any pushback. They did not specify which White House officials were contacted.

But mixed signals and reversed decisions are not uncommon in the White House, where rival aides with opposing views, and sometimes outside influences, jockey for the president’s attention.

The president announced the reversal shortly after Chief Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, appeared on Fox News, framing the Navy action as one of defiance toward the president’s decision last week to restore Chief Gallagher’s rank.

“Monday morning, the admiral comes in and says, ‘I disagree with the president, I’m going to take his Trident,’” Mr. Parlatore said. “What he’s doing here is really just an effort to publicly humiliate Chief Gallagher and stick it right in the president’s eye.”