UPDATE:
President Trump addressed the termination of former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer on Sunday evening and announced that the current ambassador of Norway, Kenneth Braithwaite will replace Richard Spencer as Secretary of the Navy.
....contracting procedures were not addressed to my satisfaction. Therefore, Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer’s services have been terminated by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. I thank Richard for his service & commitment. Eddie will retire peacefully with all of the.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2019
....honors that he has earned, including his Trident Pin. Admiral and now Ambassador to Norway Ken Braithwaite will be nominated by me to be the new Secretary of the Navy. A man of great achievement and success, I know Ken will do an outstanding job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2019
ORIGINAL STORY:
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer over the secretary's handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher.
"Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper has asked for the resignation of Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer after losing trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor over conversations with the White House involving the handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher," Department of Defense spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that the secretary of the Navy and the admiral leading the SEALs both threatened to resign or be fired if President Trump intervened in plans to strip the decorated Navy SEAL of his Trident Pin. Chief Gallagher was demoted after being convicted of posing for a photo with a dead ISIS fighter. President Trump reversed Chief Gallagher's demotion earlier this month.
The president tweeted his disagreement with the Navy's decision to begin the process of stripping Chief Gallagher of his Trident pin.
The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2019
According to the Times, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer then said the process to remove Chief Gallagher's pin would continue because the secretary did not consider Trump's tweet to be a formal order. Of course, if he was confused about the commander-in-chief's orders he could have asked the president about it himself instead of gossiping about it with The New York Times.
Good riddance.
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