DANGEROUS

Eddie Gallagher Outs Ex SEAL Teammates in Video, Calls Them ‘Cowards’ for Testifying Against Him

The retired Navy chief’s social-media post attacks teammates who accused him of war crimes, and discloses details that could put them in danger.

Eddie Gallagher, a retired Navy SEAL accused of several war crimes, has outed active-duty members of his elite former platoon, showing their names and faces in a video he posted to social media in which he calls some of them “cowards.” The former special operator, 40, posted a three-minute video on his Facebook page and Instagram account on Monday that includes clips from Naval Criminal Investigative Service interviews of his SEAL teammates. He points out names, photos, as well as duty statuses and current units for those on active duty, including one who is reported to be on the elite SEAL Team 6, which could put those men in jeopardy, former SEALs said. “The fight to clear my name is not over,” Gallagher says in the video. Gallagher was accused by platoon subordinates of shooting civilians and stabbing and killing a wounded ISIS fighter in the neck in Iraq. He was acquitted of most charges but convicted of posing for a photo with an ISIS fighter’s corpse, which led to a one-rank demotion. President Trump intervened in Gallagher’s case on several occasions and restored his rank, and has told staffers he wants him included at events for his re-election campaign.

“Attempting to call attention to (those SEALs’) status in the way it’s been done does not serve the mission or the interests of the Navy,” David Shaw, a former first class petty officer, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.