President Trump stood his ground Friday amid an outcry over his decision to consider pardoning military personnel accused or convicted of war crimes.
Some men and women in uniform, he told DailyMail.com as he left the White House for Japan, are 'treated very unfairly' when they live out their elite training.
The president said he hasn't decided what to do about 'two or three' cases, which reportedly include Army Major Mathew Golsteyn. The Green Beret soldier is accused of killing an unarmed Afghan in 2010, a man he claims was a suspected bomb maker.
Another involves Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, charged with shooting unarmed civilians and killing an enemy captive with a knife during a deployment in Iraq.
'We're looking at a lot of different pardons for a lot of different people,' Trump said Friday. 'Some of these soldiers are people that have fought hard and long.'
'You know, we teach them how to be great fighters, and then when they fight sometimes they get really treated very unfairly.'
The president conceded that the idea of pardoning war criminals is 'a little bit controversial.' And he signaled that the decisions might not come soon.
'It's very possible that I'll let the trials go on and I'll make my decision after the trial,' he said.
He has shown particular interest in reviewing the Golsteyn case, calling him a 'U.S. Military hero' last year.
Golsteyn's wife said in a CBS interview this week that her husband wasn't a cold-blooded murderer.
'Assassinate? No. My husband took care of an enemy combatant who did harm and was planning to do more harm,' she said.
She said the American armed forces have become 'riddled with corruption at the highest levels.'
The New York Times reported this week that Trump has requested the paperwork needed for pardons, suggesting that the final announcements could come on Memorial Day. Trump and his family will be in Japan on the holiday, which falls on Monday.
