Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher thanks Trump and Fox News after he is acquitted of murder – NBC News

A decorated Navy SEAL who was acquitted of murder in the death of a teenage ISIS fighter thanked President Donald Trump and Fox News on Wednesday for championing his defense.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, 40, was acquitted Tuesday by a military jury in San Diego of charges that he fatally stabbed the wounded, teenage prisoner in 2017 and shot two civilians from a sniper’s perch in Iraq.

“I want to say thank you to you, Fox News — to you guys, Pete, for being with us from day one,” Gallagher told Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth in an interview that aired Wednesday morning on “Fox & Friends.“

“You guys backed us from the beginning. I also want to say thank you to Congressman Duncan Hunter and Congressman Ralph Norman, and also to President Trump for intervening when he did,” Gallagher said of GOP Reps. Hunter of California and Norman of South Carolina.

Later Wednesday morning, Trump returned the praise, tweeting: “Congratulations to Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, his wonderful wife Andrea, and his entire family. You have been through much together. Glad I could help!”

Trump helped get Gallagher transferred from a military brig to less-restrictive barracks before trial. The president had also hinted prior to the verdict that he may have pardoned Gallagher had the SEAL been convicted.

Gallagher had faced a host of charges — including murder, attempted murder of two noncombatants, and wrongful posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty.

He was found not guilty of all but the least serious accusation, that he posed for a picture with the corpse of the young fighter for the Islamic State militant group, an act which defense lawyers admitted he had done. That conviction carries a sentence of up to four months in prison, but Gallagher has already had nine months of pretrial confinement.