Navy SEAL Leader Accused Of War Crimes Threatens Defamation Suit Against NY Times Reporter For Revealing Videos & Text Of Men Who Reported Him

from the that's-not-how-any-of-this-works dept

The NY Times recently published quite a story, sharing videos and text messages of various Navy SEALs who had reported to officials their concerns with Special Operations Chief Eddie Gallagher. Gallagher was then put on trial for war crimes and mostly acquitted last summer. The one charge he was convicted for resulted in a demotion and a confinement sentence, but President Trump stepped in and reversed that decision, leading to some turmoil within the military, as many leaders were not at all happy about what former Secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer (who was fired over all of this) called "shocking and unprecedented interference." Other long term military officials also found the decision shocking.

The NY Times report shows Navy investigators interviewing a number of Navy SEALs whom Gallagher commanded, revealing some of their concerns about Gallagher, with quite a few striking quotes. For example:

“The guy is freaking evil,” Special Operator Miller told investigators. “The guy was toxic,” Special Operator First Class Joshua Vriens, a sniper, said in a separate interview. “You could tell he was perfectly O.K. with killing anybody that was moving,” Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a medic in the platoon, told the investigators. [....] Asked whether the chief had a bias against Middle Eastern people, Special Operator Scott replied, “I think he just wants to kill anybody he can.”

There are more quotes in the piece. Gallagher has insisted that the SEALs in his command who reported him were "disgruntled" SEALs who, according to the NY Times report "could not meet his high standards and wanted to force him out." However, the Times report also reveals text messages between the men as they prepared for this, and it suggested a fairly different story as they repeatedly reminded each other to just tell the truth -- and even acknowledged that any embellishment would harm what they were trying to do:

“Tell the truth, don’t lie or embellish,” one sniper who is now in SEAL Team 6 told the others in a group text in 2017, when they first tried to report the chief. “That way, he can’t say that we slandered him in any way.”

But... Gallagher is now claiming defamation. Just... that his lawyer claims he'll be suing the reporter Dave Philipps for this story:

But Tim Parlatore, Gallagher's lawyer, said the Times "cherry-picked" footage, ignoring his client's side of the story. "Fake reporting" is how Parlatore described it Friday. "We're filing a lawsuit against Dave Philipps," Parlatore said, referring to The New York Times reporter behind the story.

If that actually comes to pass, it will almost certainly fail. It has all the hallmarks of a SLAPP suit. Philipps' reporting clearly is showing what these men said about Gallagher. If Gallagher believes they are lying, he could sue them for defamation (also unlikely to succeed), but to sue the reporter for sharing the details seems incredibly cowardly. It looks like little more than an attempt to create a chilling effect and to intimidate others who are reporting on what the men who served with Gallagher have to say.

Of course, without a strong federal anti-SLAPP law, and with many states having very weak anti-SLAPP laws, any such lawsuit could still cause quite a hassle for Philipps. For what it's worth, Philipps even has a statement from Gallagher in his piece (which is certainly not required, but shows that he did even more due diligence than was necessary to make sure he got Gallagher's side of the story). Gallagher (and his lawyer) seem to think they can sue over the fact that they don't like the way that Philipps put the entire piece together and left out some of the things they wanted included:

"I've sent him so many things to make sure that he tries to get the story right, and he just willfully ignores it and refuses to print any retractions," Parlatore said. "... He has really crossed the line on this thing."

But... that's not how defamation works at all. You don't get to dictate what the press says about you. You don't get to demand that they only cover things the way you want or to portray the facts only in ways that you approve of. It is notable, of course, that not once do Gallagher's lawyers cite a single factual statement that he says is defamatory. The only argument he makes is that Philipps didn't do more to highlight that Gallagher was acquitted of all but one of the charges:

The SEALs' initial claims about Gallagher didn't hold up in court, Parlatore said, and the Times didn't do enough to convey that in its coverage.... [....] "This is the very bedrock of our Constitution, that people have to have the right to face their accuser in court," Parlatore said. "What Dave Philipps is asking everybody to do is to ignore the fact that Eddie Gallagher exercised his constitutional rights, faced his accusers in court, poked holes in their stories -- ignore all of that and go back to the initial videos."

Except, Philipps' piece is a news article, not a court of law, so Parlatore's statement about "the right to face their accuser" is meaningless. The article was about the previously unseen video footage of the folks who were upset about Gallagher actions. And the piece does, in fact, highlight the acquittal, stating:

Chief Gallagher was acquitted by a military jury in July of all but a single relatively minor charge, and was cleared of all punishment in November by Mr. Trump.

And later it quotes Parlatore responding to the videos:

Chief Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said the video interviews were rife with inconsistencies and falsehoods that created “a clear road map to the acquittal.”

So, uh, what exactly is he complaining about? It's not defamation. It's not even leaving stuff out. Because the things he claims were left out are in there. This is bluster and bullshit and if it turns into a lawsuit, it's one that will end poorly for Gallagher.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis. While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: dave philipps, defamation, donald trump, ed gallagher, eddie gallagher, navy seal, slapp, tim parlatore, war crimes

Companies: ny times