Army will not restore Special Forces tab of soldier pardoned by Trump

The Army has rejected a request from Maj. Matt Golsteyn, the soldier charged with murder who was pardoned by President Trump in November, that he be reinstated in the elite Green Berets.

In 2018, Golsteyn was charged was murder, accused of killing a man in Afghanistan in 2010. Golsteyn said the man was a suspected Taliban bomb maker who was killed during an ambush. He admitted to the killing while taking a polygraph exam for a position with the CIA. His trial was set to begin in December, but Trump intervened in November, giving him clemency.

After his pardon, Golsteyn asked that his Special Forces tab be restored, but the Army notified his lawyer last month that his request had been denied. The decision was reaffirmed on Thursday, NBC News reports, and this could lead to a showdown between the Defense Department and Trump.

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