Free Republic

Special Operator 1st Class Corey Scott, a medic in the platoon, told the investigators: “You could tell he was perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving.” Such dire descriptions of Gallagher, who had eight combat deployments and sometimes went by the nickname Blade, are in marked contrast to Trump’s portrayal of him at a recent political rally in Florida as one of “our great fighters.”

The Navy has dismissed charges against Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher’s platoon leader and ordered a review of its justice system. Lt. Jacob Portier was charged with covering up war crimes in connection with the Gallagher prosecution and faced trial in September. “Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson today dismissed all charges in the case of Lt. Jacob Portier,” a Navy statement said Thursday, according to the San Diego News-Tribune. “Richardson took this action in the best interest of justice and the Navy.” Richardson also ordered a review of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General Corps, which prosecuted Gallagher and Portier....

The trial of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher resumed Friday with prosecutors expected to call two Navy SEAL snipers to testify on charges he shot at innocent civilians while he led a SEAL platoon deployment to Iraq in 2017. However, whether the prosecution can recover from a bombshell courtroom revelation on Thursday remains unclear. On Thursday, the prosecution’s star witness, medic Navy SEAL Special Operator 1st Class Corey Scott, shocked the courtroom by admitting that he was the one who killed a wounded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria fighter, not Gallagher, as he is accused of doing. According to NBC...