The White House will not intervene in a US Navy disciplinary process that could see an Iraq War veteran accused of war crimes from being removed from his unit.
The announcement comes despite two tweets fromDonald Trumpsuggesting he did not wantEdward Gallagherto be thrown out of the Navy Seals.
Gallagher was demoted after being found guilty at a court martial of bringing discredit on to the armed forces by posing for a photograph with the dead body of a captured teenageIsismember.
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The same court cleared him of other charges which included killing the severely wounded teenager, shooting civilians and threatening to kill any comrades who reported his behavior.
The Navy demoted him but the demotion was overturned by Mr Trump.
When military authorities pressed on with plans to remove Gallagher from the unit, Mr Trump tweeted: “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter andNavy SealEddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business! “
Senior defense officials apparently said they would resign or allow themselves to be fired by pressing on with the disciplinary procedure despite the president’s opposition.
However, on Sunday a US official said that the White House would not intervene and that the navy had been informed of this on Friday.
Richard Spencer, the navy secretary, denied threatening to resign but did say the disciplinary procedure against Gallagher would continue.
He acknowledged that the president was able to override the process but said he did not believe that Mr Trump’s tweets in themselves constituted a formal order.
He said: “I need a formal order to act. I don’t interpret them as a formal order.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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