It's the latest imbroglio to embarrass the SEALs, the elite special operators once lauded as “silent professionals” who eschewed the shenanigans that snagged headlines.
Electrician’s Mate (Nuclear) 2nd Class Stephen Kellogg III wanted to turn over nuclear secrets to Sevmash, Russia's largest shipbuilding enterprise, according to the FBI.
The SEAL is accused of stabbing to death an unarmed and seriously wounded Islamic State prisoner of war during a 2017 deployment to Iraq, plus shooting an old man and a young girl in a violent spree that prosecutors contend might have claimed hundreds of lives.
In his message, the president nodded to the Fox News Network and U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a North Carolina Republican who has led the fight alongside embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter, R- Calif., to free the SEAL.