Former Green Beret officer Maj. Mat Golsteyn said the president showed “an incredible display of courage” Saturday after President Trump intervened in several military war crimes cases — including granting clemency for his own case.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends: Weekend” Saturday with host Pete Hegseth, Golsteyn said that he woke up “incredibly stunned and awed by the president’s generosity.”
Golsteyn was charged with premeditated murder in the 2010 death of a suspected Taliban bomb maker. His trial was expected to begin next month.
It was the second time the Army investigated the 2010 case after an initial probe didn’t find sufficient evidence to bring charges. A second investigation was opened in 2016 and Golsteyn was charged in December 2018. He faced life in prison if convicted and was stripped of his Special Forces tab and Silver Star award for valor.
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His family had called the case a “complete set-up,” a “farce” and a “kangaroo court.”
The president had tweeted on Oct. 12 that he was reviewing Golsteyn’s case.
“Mathew is a highly decorated Green Beret who is being tried for killing a Taliban bomb maker,” the president wrote. “We train our boys to be killing machines, then prosecute them when they kill!
On Friday the White House released a statement issuing the Full Pardon: “Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Grant of Clemency (Full Pardon) for Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance, an Executive Grant of Clemency (Full Pardon) for Army Major Mathew Golsteyn, and an order directing the promotion of Special Warfare Operator First Class Edward R. Gallagher to the grade of E-7, the rank he held before he was tried and found not guilty of nearly all of the charges against him.”
Golsteyn said the president was “just incredibly sanguine and warm and demonstrated an amazing degree of knowledge about the case and what had been going on.”
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He said that while receiving a call from the president was “was an incredible honor,” he was “also quite funny.”
Golsteyn’s wife Julie chimed in that the president was compassionate.
“To have the ability to look forward to even just the holidays, let alone the remainder of our lives and our children’s’ lives, I can’t explain the burden that’s been lifted,” she said.
“Because we have dealt with nefarious people for too long and to have someone have the moral courage to step up and give us our life back — and that’s another thing the president said is to give you your life back — that’s exactly what he did,” she added.
“I think it sends a clear signal that the President of the United States is paying attention,” Maj. Golsteyn told Hegseth. “That he’s not going to be backed off by institutional elements of the DOD that are going to try to retain their ability to do certain things and force outcomes and weaponize the military justice process and then hide behind process.””It’s just incredible to have somebody step up and be a leader,” said Julie.
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“How do you say thank you to someone who gave you your life back? Thank you seems incredibly insignificant, but thank you,” he said.
Fox News’ Melissa Leon contributed to this report.
