Eddie Gallagher: Media cobbled together lies to portray me as evil
Ex-Navy SEAL and wife Andrea discuss his war crimes trial, forthcoming book, on 'Hannity'
Former U.S. Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, acquitted in a 2017 war crimes trial but later charged with posing with an Islamic terrorist's corpse, joined "Hannity," along with his wife Andrea to discuss his case and a new book the couple wrote that includes QR-code links to actual courtroom audio.
Gallagher told host Sean Hannity that the book – "The Man in the Arena" – intends to allow the public to find out the truth for themselves and make their own decisions about his case, after he was vilified in the media and by many on the left.
"The reason we wrote the book is to get the truth out there about what happened and what took place during that whole two-year ordeal, the media decided to portray me in one way, made me look like a psychopath, a warmonger for actually wanting to do my job," he said.
"[They] demoniz[ed] me, demonized all my friends and brothers that have fought over the past 20 years so I wanted to get the truth out there and just show the public that these people cobbled together a case out of a bunch of white lies which then escalated to even bigger lies so the prosecutors could try to get a win which 50% of that was not reported by the media."
The QR codes embedded in the book will link to courtroom audio, interviews and other evidence for the reader to make their own judgment.
Gallagher was ultimately found not guilty of the greater charge of indiscriminately firing at civilians in Mosul.
As Hannity noted, Gallagher was one of many but few who put their lives on the line for the good of the American people, and that service members like him should be treated the way the media treated him.
"The country owes you an apology. That shouldn't happen to our brave heroes, our national treasure willing to fight these wars, they send you into these war zones with handcuffs on, that's madness," the host said. "We can't fight wars this way ever again."
After his conviction, his punishment included a reduction in rank from chief petty officer to 1st class petty officer, which would have cost him about $200,000 in retirement funds. His family and defense team were fighting to have his rank restored.
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However, in 2019, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive fiat calling for his E-7 rank to be reinstated.
"There are no words to adequately express how grateful my family and I are to our president, Donald J. Trump, for his intervention and decision," Gallagher said in a public statement following the former president's reversal. "We would also like to thank the American people for their unwavering support during this very difficult time for my family and I -- we can never thank you enough."
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.
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