Trump just tweeted that he fired the Secretary of the Navy.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1198746358091530241….contracting procedures were not addressed to my satisfaction. Therefore, Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer’s services have been terminated by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. I thank Richard for his service & commitment. Eddie will retire peacefully with all of the…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2019
….honors that he has earned, including his Trident Pin. Admiral and now Ambassador to Norway Ken Braithwaite will be nominated by me to be the new Secretary of the Navy. A man of great achievement and success, I know Ken will do an outstanding job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2019
And there was a statement from him about what it happened.
Outgoing Secretary of the Navy Spencer’s acknowledgment-of-termination letter says that he “cannot in good conscience” obey an order he believes “violates the sacred oath“ he took & that he and POTUS disagree on the “key principle of good order and discipline” pic.twitter.com/EZ8YPM7M0L
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 24, 2019
Wow.
Jen Griffin has more about what happened here.
US official tells me when Sec Navy went to WH to ask POTUS to let Navy review board go forward he promised the board would in the end allow Gallagher to keep his Trident and rank. In other words he promised to fix the results of the board which is usually a board of peers.
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) November 24, 2019
Here is the rest of the content from her tweets:
I am told Navy Secretary Spencer blindsided Defense Secretary Esper and Gen Mark Milley who had gone to the WH to defend Navy decision and ask that Trident review board be allowed to proceed. WH then told them about back deal Spencer tried to cut…
which did not gibe with what Spencer had told the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. It also was counter to Spencer’s public statements. In other words Spencer was not honest with them or the public so Esper asked for his resignation.
In the end Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was not fired for standing up for military justice but for dishonesty and undermining the military justice system, according to a senior US official. He was fired for “lack of candor.”
Official: Esper then decided that given all of the messy issues surrounding Chief Eddie Gallagher’s case that it would be impossible for him to get a fair hearing from military so he has decided to allow him to keep his Trident and retire at current rank from Navy.
I am told by Navy source that they “can’t see a world where they go forward” with the other 3 SEALs peer review board hearing. “We need to move on.”
This is just stunning. I can’t imagine anyone is happy about what is happening in the military leadership right now….
This is what the media will say tomorrow:
I’m deeply skeptical of the official telling of the Spencer/Gallagher story. The one consistent theme I’ve heard has been opposition to WH interference at the highest levels of Navy/SEALs & WH pique at that opposition. For Navy Sec to go down & Gallagher survive is odd at best.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) November 24, 2019
And I can’t help but wonder if Trump was influenced by this earlier on Fox News:
WHOA: Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher just attacked his chain of command on Fox, which the President encouraged everyone to watch. "It’s all about retaliation....The Secretary of the Navy was meddling in my case... What the admiral (Green) is doing is showing complete insubordination."
— HansNichols (@HansNichols) November 24, 2019
Too much winning all over the place.
UPDATE:
Chuck Schumer just posted a statement praising Spencer for “standing up” to Trump.
Well there you go.
UPDATE:
And now Gallagher has released a statement thanking everyone who supported him, especially Trump.
https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1198780634904383492And a statement from a Democrat and 23 year veteran of the Navy:
It has been a privilege to meet and come to know Secretary Spencer and to work with him during his all too brief tenure. I know I speak for many of my colleagues — both Democrats and Republicans — in thanking him for his exemplary service. Here’s my full statement: pic.twitter.com/YNRT3GoglY
— Senator Tom Carper (@SenatorCarper) November 25, 2019
If you want to know how big a deal this story is, all the trending topics on Twitter are about… football.