Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump formally announced Friday that he will nominate Kenneth Braithwaite, the current US ambassador to Norway, to be his next Navy Secretary.

The formal notice from the White House comes months after Trump first announced his decision to tap Braithwaite, a retired rear admiral, to replace former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, who was forced to resign in November by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

Spencer was ousted for circumventing the chain of command by working on a "secret agreement with the White House" to reinstate Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher despite resistance from the Pentagon, a senior defense official told CNN at the time.

Gallagher had been convicted of bringing discredit to the armed services after posing next to a dead ISIS fighter's body, which is against regulations. He was demoted for that offense and acquitted of a separate murder charge.

Trump reversed Gallagher's demotion and ordered Esper to allow the Navy SEAL to keep his status in the elite service -- a move critics say completely undermined the military's chain of command structure.

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