The Latest on the trial of a decorated Navy SEAL charged with killing an Islamic State prisoner in his care (all times local):
10:05 a.m.
A jury has been selected to decide the fate of a decorated Navy SEAL charged with killing a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq.
This undated selfie provided by Andrea Gallagher shows her husband, U.S. Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who has been charged with allegedly killing an Islamic State prisoner in his care and attempted murder for the shootings of two Iraq civilians in 2017. Gallagher is scheduled to go on trial Monday, June 17, 2019. (Edward GallagherCourtesy of Andrea Gallagher via AP, File)
Five Marines and two Navy members were chosen Tuesday for the court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher.
The jury is made up of five enlisted members, including a Navy SEAL and four Marines, a Navy commander and a Marine chief warrant officer.
Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder in the killing of a wounded prisoner and attempted murder in the shooting of two civilians from a sniper's perch.
Gallagher says disgruntled platoon mates fabricated the charges.
Most of jurors have served in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The defense rejected several jurors, including the only woman. She's a Marine major who advocates for military sexual assault victims.
12 a.m.
Combat veterans who said they lost friends and comrades in battle have been questioned as possible jurors in the California war crimes trial of a decorated Navy SEAL.
A jury is likely to be seated Tuesday in the court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher at San Diego's Navy base.
Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to murder in the killing of a wounded teenage prisoner and to attempted murder in the sniper shootings of two civilians in Iraq in 2017.
Gallagher claims disgruntled platoon mates fabricated the charges.
Seven Marines, four sailors and a Navy SEAL were questioned Monday during jury selection. Most served in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Each said they thought it possible that Navy SEALS could lie or make false allegations.
President Donald Trump has suggested he may pardon Gallagher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
