President Donald Trump thought that pardoning multiple accused or convicted war criminals would be a big political winner -- but he was reportedly surprised when multiple military veterans groups came out against the proposal.
The Daily Beast reports that Trump has put his war criminal mass pardon scheme on ice after he "was personally taken aback by the across-the-board pushback" against it.
In particular, the president had "not expected the blowback to be as fierce and widespread among veterans as it was" when he watched cable TV and newspaper coverage of the plan, which would have included a pardon for a Navy SEAL who has been accused by his own fellow service members of deliberately murdering civilians in Iraq.
Veterans groups such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the progressive Vote Vets both signaled opposition to Trump's plan, and multiple retired generals went on cable news to explain why these pardons would be horrible for maintaining order within the military.
Even though Trump is not planning to issue any pardons for war criminals in the immediate future, The Daily Beast says he's still considering doing so at a later date.