“I stuck up for three great warriors against the deep state,” Trump said at a rally in Sunrise, Fla. “And you know what I’m talking about.”

The president was referring to a pardon he announced last week for Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher and grants of executive clemency for Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn and Army Lt. Clint Lorance. The decision came despite senior Pentagon officials raising concerns about Trump intervening in the military justice system and eventually led to the ouster of the Navy secretary.

“I had so many people say, ‘Sir, I don’t think you should do that,'” Trump said Tuesday. “People have to be able to fight. These are great warriors. They can’t think … if they made a mistake they were putting them in jail for 25 years.”