Bernard Kerik, a counselor to Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, said in a recent interview that he plans to recommend to the White House and Congress a review of how Gallagher’s case was handled, as well as the cases of other special operators facing charges.
“I think when this is over, we’re going to make a recommendation to the White House, to Congress, that somebody not only takes a look at this case but looks at every single one of these cases where you have special operators, members of the U.S. armed forces, special forces community, the Navy SEAL community,” Kerik said on The Joe Piscopo Show on Sunday.
“We are annihilating our special warriors, our special warfare warriors through this process that is the most — in my opinion — is the most corrupt process I’ve ever seen,” he added.
Kerik, the former New York Police Department commissioner who served during 9/11, has been an adviser to Gallagher, as he faces charges of war crimes including allegedly killing a wounded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighter and allegedly shooting civilians.
The charges originated with a small group of younger Navy SEALs who deployed with Gallagher to Mosul, Iraq, in February 2017. Months after they returned home that fall, they claimed that they saw Gallagher kill the terrorist by stabbing him and that he shot at civilians.
Gallagher’s family and the defense have argued the younger SEALs were upset that Gallagher had complained about their poor performance on the battlefield and were trying to derail a Silver Star, coveted training assignment, and promotion for Gallagher with war crimes allegations.
Last week, one of the SEALs — a prosecution witness — shocked the courtroom when he testified that he had actually killed the ISIS fighter by putting his thumb on the wounded fighter’s breathing tube and that Gallagher did not kill him.
A forensic analyst also testified that the cause of death could not be determined and there was no blood or a stabbing wound, according to Kerik, who has been in the courtroom during the military trial.
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Kerik was introduced to the Gallaghers through a family connection and brought lead defense attorney and Navy veteran Tim Parlatore onboard.
His recommendation to the White House and Congress could go far. The former commissioner brought Marc Mukasey — a lawyer for President Donald Trump — onto the case. Kerik is also close to another one of Trump’s lawyers, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Kerik slammed the government — in this case, the U.S. military — for being too close to the prosecution and trying to undermine Gallagher’s case. He alleged that a military lawyer for Naval Special Warfare told Gallagher’s parents that he belonged in jail.
“The command has a JAG lawyer … that’s in the courtroom, there’s a woman there that actually told the parents of Eddie Gallagher six months ago, ‘If you knew what we knew about your son, you would want him in prison.’ She said that to their face. And to this day, we’ve proved otherwise,” Kerik said.
Breitbart News reached out to Naval Special Warfare for a comment but did not receive an immediate response.
He also alleged military and defense officials spread rumors about a supposedly damaging video of Gallagher stabbing the ISIS fighter to discourage members of Congress and administration officials from supporting him.
“The government said, ‘We have a video of Eddie Gallagher that’s horrific. And the only thing the video shows … is Eddie Gallagher treating this guy for his injuries,'” Kerik said.
Shortly before Memorial Day, the New York Times reported that Trump was considering pardoning several military veterans, including Gallagher.
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