U.S.A.! U.S.A.! vol. 181

Gallagher was arrested in September on more than a dozen charges. Gallagher is accused of having shot at unarmed forces and killing a teen ISIS prisoner with a knife before posing with the body. He has been charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder, among other illegal acts, and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted at his trial, set for later this month, he faces life in prison. Trump tweeted his sympathy for Gallagher in March.

Golsteyn is charged with premeditated murder for shooting and killing an unarmed Afghan man in 2010. Golsteyn claimed he did so out of fear the man would continue making explosives, even though the man had already been released following an interrogation by soldiers.

Trump is believed to also be trying to pardon Nicholas A. Slatten and the Marine Corps snipers who were filmed urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. Slatten is a former Blackwater security contractor who was twice found guilty for participating in the 2007 shooting that left 14 unarmed Iraqis dead, and injured more than a dozen.

“Presidents use pardons to send messages. They recognize when a process wasn’t just or when punishments were too extreme, like for some nonviolent drug cases,” Love explained. “If this president is planning to pardon a bunch of people charged with war crimes, he will use the pardon power to send a far darker message.”

Trump expected to pardon Navy SEAL and Green Beret accused of war crimes, among others