Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, forced out after Trump's intervention
AP
We ran the numbers: There are 621 news articles covering this topic. 58% (363) are left leaning, 37% (230) center, 5% (28) right leaning.
On Monday, Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, fired this weekend, defended himself for his handling of the Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher case. While a left leaning CNN article describes Spencer’s firing as “a shocking twist” and describes a back-door agreement Trump made at the time, a right leaning article from the New York Post gives a brief description of Trump’s pardoning of Gallagher and orders that he retain the Navy SEAL Trident pin.
A left-leaning article by CNN reports, “In an extraordinary move, the Pentagon chief "fired" the Navy secretary Sunday for going outside his chain of command by proposing a "secret agreement with the White House," according to a senior defense official.” The article recounts that while Richard Spencer outwardly condemned President Trump’s involvement in the proceedings and supported the investigation of Gallagher, there is evidence that, “Behind the scenes, he proposed to the White House that Gallagher's review go ahead, but offered a secret guarantee that Gallagher would be allowed to keep his status as a Navy SEAL, according to the senior defense official.”
NPR published a centrist-leaning article providing a similar report to that of CNN. “On Monday, Esper also reiterated his reasons for asking Navy Secretary Richard Spencer to tender his resignation on Sunday. He accused Spencer of circumventing the appropriate channels, including Esper himself, to engage in direct negotiations with the White House to allow Gallagher to remain a SEAL. Meanwhile, Spencer was saying publicly that the Trident review board process should be allowed to play out.”
A right-leaning article by the New York Post gave a very brief account–not mentioning the nuance of Spencer’s back-door conversations with the White House. The article solely relays Spencer’s public position: “Spencer, speaking to CBS News, said President Trump’s decision to allow Gallagher to retire as a Navy SEAL and keep his SEAL “Trident pin” sends the message to troops that they “can get away with things.”
From the right
Defense Secretary Says Trump Ordered Him To Let Eddie Gallagher Retire As Navy SEAL
NY Post