After receiving a surprise pardon from President Trump last month, one of the Blackwater contractors responsible for killing more than a dozen innocent civilians in a shooting rampage in Iraq doubled down on his claim that he did nothing wrong. “I feel like I acted correctly,” Evan Liberty told the Associated Press in his first interview since he was released. “I regret any innocent loss of life, but I’m just confident in how I acted and I can basically feel peace with that.” The guards have always argued they were defending themselves after being fired on by insurgents but prosecutors said there was no evidence to support their claim, and they shot at people who were in their cars or trying to flee.

The Blackwater contractors were unlikely benefactors of Trump’s recent pardon spree given they committed such violent crimes and hadn’t been apologetic. Liberty said he’s not sure what’s next for him but feels like it’s his “duty to go out and do something positive” with his life.