An Army general reportedly refused to reinstate an accused war criminal’s Special Forces tab, despite President Donald Trump issuing a pardon for the man.
Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn was charged with murder after admitting in a 2016 Fox News interview that he killed a suspected Taliban bomb maker in 2010.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Lt. Gen. Francis M. Beaudette denied Golsteyn’s request last month to have his Special Forces tab reinstated.
Golsteyn, who pleaded not guilty, was facing a court martial for murder before Trump’s pardon. That came alongside two more interventions from Trump — one on behalf of the Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who was accused of stabbing to a death a teenage ISIS captive but ultimately only convicted of posing with the captive’s corpse, and the other for Clint Lorance, an Army lieutenant found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in 2013.
The news about Golsteyn’s tab recalled a similar dispute over Gallagher’s Trident Pin, which marks one’s membership in the SEALs.
Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer reportedly offered the White House a guarantee that Gallagher would keep his pin if the White House did not interfere in a Navy review of the matter. Defense Secretary Mark Esper was not made aware of that offer, and fired Spencer when he was made aware of it.
Trump tweeted in Gallagher’s case that “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin.” The President’s hasn’t tweeted similarly with regard to Golsteyn.