President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that he will review the case of a former Special Forces officer and Afghanistan war veteran who was notified last week that he will face a murder charge in the death of a detainee suspected of being a Taliban bombmaker.
Former Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn was notified Thursday by the Army that he will face one charge of murder, his attorney and the Army said. The military has been investigating him since 2011, when Army officials said he confessed during a polygraph test as part of a CIA job interview to killing the suspected bombmaker.
โAt the request of many, I will be reviewing the case of a โU.S. Military hero,โ Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder,โ Trump tweeted. โHe could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas.โ
Trumpโs statement could complicate the militaryโs prosecution of Golsteyn. Trump, as commander in chief, is expected in the military justice system to not make statements that could influence open cases. Doing so is considered unlawful command influence and can result in cases being thrown out.
Golsteynโs attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, has disputed that Golsteynโs statement to the CIA was characterized accurately by the Army.
The Army dropped its investigation in 2014 but reopened it in 2016 after Golsteyn said during a Fox News interview that he had killed a bombmaker who had been held as a detainee for fear that he would target Afghans helping U.S. troops if he were let go.