Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, a decorated Green Beret, is charged with committing premeditated murder of an Afghan man he suspected of being a Taliban bomb maker on Feb. 22, 2010, while deployed near Forward Operating base McQuery in Marjah, Afghanistan.

A conviction of premeditated murder carries a maximum penalty of death.

Golsteyn disclosed the shooting during a CIA polygraph test. He was applying for a job at the spy agency and admitted to killing the man, who he claimed was a suspected Taliban bomb maker, military officials said when the officer was charged.

“Mathew is a highly decorated Green Beret who is being tried for killing a Taliban bombmaker,” Trump tweeted. “We train our boys to be killing machines, then prosecute them when they kill!”