Court stuff
Well, the biggest item has to be that Trump’s suit against George Stephanopoulus settled without a trial, and ABC got socked with a cool $15 million which goes to the Trump Library (if and when it gets built. Can Don read?)
Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after he asserted that Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil case during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last March.
After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, “How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”
“You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape,” Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos repeated that claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite the fact that a jury actually determined Trump was liable for “sexual abuse,” which has a distinct definition under New York law.
Everything sexual ain’t rape, George, and describing it as such on a recorded national ‘cast qualifies as dumb…15 million times.Fox
Anyone remember Kyle Mullen? He is the BUD/S candidate who died in training in 2022. Big Navy was going to clean house on that one… from here, looked like they took issue with how the school was being run and were going to prosecute those involved. But…
The Navy had set out to hold four officers accountable for Mullen’s death, as well as fix a deeply problematic culture that was revealed by a scathing investigation. But the end of the two boards of inquiry means that, more than two years later, no one will face any serious disciplinary action over the incident.
A Navy spokesman said that, “following the investigations into the oversight and management of BUD/s Class 352 and the surrounding circumstances of the death of Seaman Mullen, the Navy pursued administrative actions for accountability,” but noted that “the process for determining those actions has concluded.”
Investigators said they found that the staff was overzealous and ran largely unchecked, while students were so determined to pass that they would either lie to doctors or turn to doping.
That investigation also focused on Geary (Capt. Brad Geary, the school commander – ed.)and his leadership since he had been made aware of problems with the program that were leading to more recruits than usual being dropped from the course.
After the investigation was made public, the Navy decided to hold the two medical officers — Ramey and an unnamed sailor who was the medical duty officer the night of Mullen’s death — as well as Geary and his boss, Capt. Brian Drechsler, accountable by taking them to Admiral’s Mast.
Seems Drechsler was acquitted of all charges, and the unnamed medical officer was recommended for a letter of censure. Both since honorably retired from service.
However, Geary and Ramey dug in and refused to go to mast, with Geary’s lawyer telling Military.com in August that they felt they wouldn’t get a fair hearing.
In a letter shared with Military.com, Geary and his lawyer told the commander of Naval Special Warfare in December 2023 that they refused the mast because they had a “strong reason to believe a guilty verdict has been predetermined.”Military.com
I may be misinterpreting this, but it sounds like the Navy was going with nice low-profile confidential Captain’s Masts (equivalent to enlisted Article 15s in other services) but the officers concerned wanted everything out in the open – and the Navy doesn’t want the exposure. Makes my antennae pop right up, don’t yours?
“students were so determined to pass that they would either lie to doctors or turn to doping” – not entirely a good thing, but abstractly, isn’t that the kind of attitude we WANT in special ops folks? Neither Navy or spec ops, so more knowledgeable folks than I should chime in.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Navy, Training Incidents
