Edward Gallagher brand

Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images/Nine Line SFG/Business Insider

A Navy SEAL who was acquitted of murder charges has launched a lifestyle brand with T-shirts, hoodies, and drinking accessories.

Edward Gallagher was charged with murder in 2018 and demoted by the Navy. US President Donald Trump reversed Gallagher's sentence and reinstated his rank.

Gallagher's squad said that he targeted civilians including women and children and that he fatally stabbed a young ISIS fighter his team was treating medically. He was found not guilty of those charges.

He was found guilty of one charge: posing with the body of the dead ISIS fighter.

Trump repeatedly intervened in Gallagher's case, prompting criticism from the military. Gallagher has become a conservative figure and Fox News guest who has designed other T-shirts and promoted products on Instagram.

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Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL who was found guilty of posing with the corpse of ISIS fighter and had his sentence reversed by US President Donald Trump, has launched a lifestyle brand.

Gallagher, a special operations chief, was charged in 2018 with crimes including murder, accused by his platoon of targeting civilians including women and children. He was acquitted of all but one charge in July.

He received support from Trump for months before his trial began, and had his demotion reversed by Trump in November.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Gallagher appears to have embraced the branding opportunities that come with his increased public profile by launching a clothing collaboration and endorsing nutrition supplements and coffee.

The collaboration, called Salty Frog Gear, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, and drinkware consisting of a branded whiskey glass and a decanter.

Edward Gallagher

Andrea Gallagher via Reuters

Gallagher has escalated his move into branding since the case, which turned him into a conservative figure who has appeared on Fox News.

He has collaborated with two other clothing brands on two T-shirts that say "Free Eddie." Other T-shirts say "In a world full of mean girls be a Gallagher." He has also endorsed products on his Instagram account with his wife.

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Gallagher was charged after his fellow SEALs accused of him of fatally stabbing a young ISIS fighter his team was treating medically in 2017. He posed for a picture with the dead body.

A military jury in July acquitted Gallagher of most of the charges, except for posing with the body, leading to his demotion within the Navy from chief petty officer to petty officer first class.

Trump overrode the Navy's decision in November, directly contradicting its senior command, and Gallagher was reinstated as a chief petty officer.

FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2019 photo, President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media following a Christmas Eve video teleconference with members of the military at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would “immediately” replace President Barack Obama’s health care law with a plan of his own that would provide “insurance for everybody.” Back then, Trump made it sound that his plan — “much less expensive and much better” than the Affordable Care Act — was imminent. And he put drug companies on notice that their pricing power no longer would be “politically protected.” Nearly three years after taking office, Americans still are waiting for Trump’s big reveal. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Associated Press

Gallagher has denied any wrongdoing, while squad members and other military officials have been critical of Trump's intervention.

Nine Line, the clothing company collaborating with Gallagher to make Salty Frog Gear, wrote on its website that even though he was acquitted, Gallagher now had "a criminal record, and a huge chunk missing from his lifetime pension as a result."

It said that Gallagher and his wife, Andrea, felt that the "Washington establishment" had treated them similarly to the way Trump frequently claims he is, adding that "perhaps that's why President Trump took a particular interest in Gallagher's case."

Nine Line described Salty Frog Gear as "a coastal lifestyle brand with an edge."

"With specialty garments flexible enough for a fishing trip at sea or a weekend afternoon on the range, SFG provides functional, versatile, and affordable apparel solutions for your next outdoor adventure," it said.

Gallagher's lawyers declined to comment to The Times about the collaboration, though the couple's Instagram account criticized the journalist behind the Tuesday article and others about Gallagher's acquittal.

They said of Dave Philipps, a military reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner, "10 years ago - You would have failed Journalism school for your complete inability to separate the truth from your biased liberal agenda."

Edward Gallagher

John Gastaldo / Reuters

Trump's intervention in Gallagher's case drew widespread criticism from within the Navy and the Pentagon. One SEAL who had testified against Gallagher told The San Diego Union-Tribune last month that it risked politicizing the military.

"When you look at politicians getting involved in military justice — whether it's a congressman from San Diego or the president — with their involvement, it isn't justice," the SEAL said. "It's political, when shooting civilians and executing prisoners shouldn't be."

Veterans have also said that Trump's pardons could harm trust in the military.

SEALs who served alongside Gallagher called him "freaking evil" and "toxic" during the investigation into him, according to leaked interviews published by The Times in December.

"You could tell he was perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving," Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a medic, told investigators, according to The Times.

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