Small Wars Journal

Twist in Green Beret’s Extraordinary Story: Trump’s Intervention After Murder Charges

Sun, 12/16/2018 - 11:04pm

Twist in Green Beret’s Extraordinary Story: Trump’s Intervention After Murder Charges by Helene Cooper, Michael Tackett and Taimoor Shah – New York Times

The long and winding case of Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn had all the elements of a story that would seize President Trump’s attention. A Green Beret charged by the Army in the killing of a man linked to the Taliban. Thorny questions about America’s longstanding entanglement in Afghanistan. And a Fox News program that lauded the officer as a war hero.

And so, on Sunday, Mr. Trump announced on Twitter that he would examine the case of Major Golsteyn, using, verbatim, language aired just minutes before by his favorite program, “Fox & Friends.”

“At the request of many, I will be reviewing the case of a ‘U.S. Military hero,’ Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder,” Mr. Trump wrote. “He could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas.”

With that tweet, Mr. Trump made another extraordinary intervention into the American judicial system…

Read on.