Retired Brig. Gen. Phillip Stewart filed a petition in May with the White House for a pardon after he was convicted last year of four misdemeanor-level charges and acquitted of sexual assault in an Air Force court-martial. ( U.S. Air Force)
AUSTIN, Texas — A retired Air Force general who was acquitted of sexual assault but found guilty of lesser charges during a court-martial last year has asked President Donald Trump for a pardon because his case is an example of “a woke-inspired, DEI-led campaign of lawfare.”
Phillip Stewart, who retired last month one star below his previously held rank of major general, argued in his petition to the White House that the felony conviction “was a gross example of over-prosecution by the Air Force” and his professional career was sacrificed at the “altar of wokeness.”
The Office of the Pardon Attorney confirmed Wednesday that Stewart’s application was accepted for review, said Jeffrey Addicott, Stewart’s attorney through the Warrior Defense Project at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. The defense project is a nonprofit that only takes on cases with clear indicators that an abuse of the military justice system is or has occurred.
Stewart, a career fighter pilot who served in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty last year at Joint Base San Antonio to adultery and pursuing an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. A military jury convicted him of conduct unbecoming of an officer for inviting the female officer to spend the night in his hotel room and dereliction of duty for flying within 12 hours of drinking alcoholic beverages. Jurors found him not guilty of sexually assaulting the woman who served on his staff.
Military judge Col. Matthew Stoffel sentenced Stewart to a reprimand, restriction for two months to Randolph Air Force Base in Texas and to forfeit $10,000 of pay for six months.
The Air Force declined to comment Thursday on Stewart’s request for a presidential pardon because the application is pending.
Stewart’s attorneys have always maintained he did not assault the woman and the charges to which he was found guilty did not warrant a court-martial. They could instead be handled in administrative punishment.
The officer who presided over a 2023 preliminary hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to bring Stewart to a court-martial made the same recommendation, said Addicott, a retired Army lawyer.
Yet, Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, the commander of Air Education and Training Command and Stewart’s boss at the time, decided to go forward with the court-martial. The decision came 10 days before a new law took effect that moved that decision to prosecute from the commander to the Office of Special Trial Counsel.
“Due to the government’s mishandling of my case, I have federal convictions for essentially what are either misdemeanors or not even crimes at all in the civilian world,” Stewart wrote in his pardon application.
Stewart, who commanded the 19th Air Force at the time of the accusations against him, also wrote in the application that he attempted to plead guilty to all misdemeanor-level charges but was denied by prosecutors because they were using the lesser charges to bolster the sexual assault charge.
In sending this case to court-martial, the Air Force “engaged in a gross abuse of authority,” Addicott said. “At the very inception of the case against Gen. Stewart, it was abundantly clear that the facts and circumstances associated with allegations of sexual assault were spurious. While the Warrior Defense Project concurs with the view that the military justice system is a solid tool that overwhelmingly produces justice, there are individual cases that ‘fall through the crack’ and need to be corrected.”
In his pardon application, Stewart also refers to “The War on Warriors,” a book written by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before he took office. Hegseth, then a commentator for Fox News, wrote about a legal assault that he believed was being waged against military members in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, known commonly as DEI.
“The government knew the allegations against me were false but proceeded with the case against me anyway to score political points and position themselves for promotion and advancement,” Stewart wrote.
Stewart also said being charged with sexual assault now means that he is criminally titled in all background checks run on him.
Titling is a process used by criminal investigators to name a suspect in a formal investigation. However, military investigators are known to enter suspects’ names into the FBI database early in investigations, leaving many service members and veterans who were never convicted of crimes with criminal records. There is a case pending in federal court on the practice.
Only one other general has faced a court-martial in the Air Force. Maj. Gen. William Cooley was convicted of abusive sexual contact in a court-martial in 2022 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He was sentenced to a reprimand and a forfeiture of nearly $55,000.
Even with a pardon, Stewart said he would continue to carry the reprimand he received for adultery.
