Retired Navy SEAL who led raid that killed Osama bin Laden tells Fox News Trump ‘needs to be very careful’ about pardoning accused war criminals

The New York Times reported over the weekend that President Donald Trump is considering presidential pardons for some U.S. military veterans who have been either accused or convicted of war crimes — including Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL platoon leader set to go to trial on Tuesday, May 28 for, among other things, shooting unarmed civilians while on duty in Iraq in 2017. But retired US Navy Adm. William H. McRaven, during a Fox News interview on Tuesday, warned that Trump should proceed with caution when it comes to military veterans who have been accused or convicted of war crimes.

McRaven is the former Navy SEAL who oversaw Operation Neptune Spear — the raid that led to the death of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. President Barack Obama gave the green light for that raid.

McRaven told Fox News, “I think the president needs to be very careful at this point. Obviously, the president can pardon (whomever) he thinks is appropriate to pardon. But the way it works in the military, you have to be careful as a senior commander about unduly influencing the process before the investigation has been adjudicated.”

Similar thoughts have been expressed by Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas. Crenshaw, a U.S. military veteran, wears an eye patch because he lost one of his eyes while serving in Afghanistan — and Crenshaw has asserted that before he should consider a pardon for Gallagher, Trump should let him go to trial and see what evidence is presented.