- President Donald Trump on Friday evening absolved three US service members who were either convicted or were still facing trial of war crimes.
- Trump signed an executive order to grant clemency to US Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance and Maj. Mathew Golsteyn.
- Trump also restored the rank of Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was demoted after a military trial found him guilty of posing in a picture with the corpse of an Islamic State militant.
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President Donald Trump on Friday evening absolved three US service members who were either convicted or were still facing trial of war crimes.
Trump signed an executive order to grant clemency to US Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who was convicted of ordering soldiers to engage three unarmed Afghan men on a motorcycle, killing two of them in July 2012. Lorance served six years of his 19-year sentence.
Trump also signed an executive order to grant clemency to US Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, whose trial has yet to begin. Golsteyn stands accused of killing an unarmed Afghan man in 2010, and later disposing the body in a trash pit.
US Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was demoted after a military trial found him guilty of posing in a picture with the corpse of an Islamic State militant, had his rank reinstated to Chief Petty Officer.
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