Politics

Trump To Review Case Of Green Beret Charged With Killing Taliban

(Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
Font Size:

President Donald Trump will review the case of a former U.S. Army Green Beret charged with the premeditated murder of an Afghan while serving in 2010, he tweeted Sunday morning.

The case centers around former U.S. Army Major Matt Golsteyn, who captured a suspected Taliban bomb-maker in 2010. Golsteyn and his men said the captured bomb-maker refused to cooperate with interrogators and that under their rules of engagement they had to release him.

US President Donald Trump (2nd-R) and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (2nd-L) attend the annual Army-Navy football game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 8, 2018. – Trump will officiate the coin toss at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia between the Army Black Knights of the US Military Academy (USMA) and the Navy Midshipmen of the US Naval Academy (USNA). (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Golsteyn said that he and his men suspected the Taliban bomb-maker of masterminding the deaths of U.S. Marines killed the day prior and that a local tribal elder had identified him as a known militant. The former U.S. Army Major later told investigators that he conspired with one of his men to kill the bomb-maker and bury his body.

Golsteyn admitted in a 2016 Fox News interview that he killed the bomb-maker, prompting renewed interest in the case. Following the interview and subsequent re-opening of the investigation the Army charged him with premeditated murder earlier this week.

US President Donald Trump (L) watches an air assault exercise with Army Major General Walter Piatt at Fort Drum, New York, on August 13, 2018. – Trump spoke at a signing ceremony for the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Golysten’s commander “has determined that sufficient evidence exists to warrant the preferral of charges against him,” a U.S. Army spokesman said Friday, adding “Major Golsteyn is being charged with the murder of an Afghan male during his 2010 deployment to Afghanistan.”