In a new video, retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher calls the former platoon mates who testified against him “cowards.”
Declaring “the truth is coming,” the video posted to social media then shows the names, photos, duty statuses and unit assignments of seven people who took part in the NCIS war crimes investigation of Gallagher.
Identifying active-duty SEALs is a sensitive topic within the military community.
“As a matter of policy we do not identify our special operators,” Naval Special Warfare Spokesperson Capt. Tamara Lawrence said in an email statement to reporting partner 10News.
“We don’t identify them by name, or by any other manner, due to the nature of their work, for the protection of their teammates and their families, and to protect on-going and future missions. Our Force knows this is our policy,” she continued.
Timothy Parlatore, Gallagher's lawyer, dismissed the idea that the video could be a security threat.
“That’s preposterous,” he said by phone. “First of all, there’s nothing in this video that is not already public knowledge and public record. Every single one of their names has been in the news. Every single one came into the courtroom with patches on their sleeve saying where they work.”
Parlatore said the video is in response to an episode of the New York Times series “The Weekly” that aired leaked videos and text messages on the Gallagher case.
“Eddie Gallagher would have been perfectly happy to go quietly off into retirement, and we could have rested on the fact that he was acquitted. But the fact that they keep pushing this to try and get people to think Eddie Gallagher is guilty, it requires a response,” he said.
Gallagher was acquitted of murder in a high-profile war crimes trial in San Diego after a witness changed his testimony on the stand, but convicted of posing with the body of an ISIS fighter.
The case exposed a rift between military leaders who sought to punish Gallagher and President Donald Trump, who intervened on behalf of the former SEAL several times.
The rift culminated in the firing of the Navy’s top official, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, in November.