"Secretary of Defense Mark Esper requested the resignation of US Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer on Sunday due to a loss of confidence due to his behavior in the case of the US military, who was accused of war crimes in Iraq," the statement said.

The head of the Pentagon asked Spencer's resignation after it became known about the secret proposal of the head of the U.S. Navy to representatives of the White House not to intervene in the case against Gallager, who was accused of war crimes in Iraq in 2017.

In exchange for this, Spencer gave guarantees that the accused of crimes would be able to leave the army while retaining the rank.

Earlier, Time reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to leave the administration of US President Donald Trump.