Washington, November 25 (RHC)-- U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has fired the secretary of the Navy.  Richard Spencer’s ouster came a week after President Donald Trump overruled military leaders and granted clemency to three U.S. servicemembers who have been accused or convicted of war crimes. 

One of the three, Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, has been accused of multiple war crimes, including shooting two Iraqi civilians and fatally stabbing a captive teenager in the neck.  Gallagher was convicted of posing with the teenage corpse but acquitted on premeditated murder. 

Esper had opposed Trump’s decision to intervene in Gallagher’s case, as well as the cases of two other soldiers accused of, or convicted of, war crimes.