{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-biggs-requests-release-lt-col-scheller", "Congressman Biggs Requests Release of Lt. Col. Scheller", "2021-10-07", "2021", "2021-10", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Andy Biggs", "B001302", "biggs.house.gov", "biggs", "https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Today, Congressman Andy Biggs and 16 of his colleagues sent a letter to Marine Corps Commandant David Berger demanding the release of Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller. Lt. Col. Scheller was relieved of his command after posting several videos demanding accountability from military leaders for the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Lt. Col. Scheller offered to resign but it was rejected and he is currently being confined at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Text of the letter is below:\n\nOctober 1, 2021\n\nGeneral David H. Berger\n\nCommandant of the Marine Corps\n\nHeadquarters, U.S. Marine Corps\n\n3000 Marine Corps, Pentagon\n\nWashington, DC 20350-3000\n\nDear Commandant Berger,\n\nLieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller Jr. should be immediately released from the brig and allowed to voluntarily resign from his post. American service members should not be punished for demanding our military leaders stand up and take ownership of their decisions. Especially when those decisions lead to the tragic deaths of 13 service members.\n\nLt. Col. Scheller was relieved of his command for demanding accountability from military leaders over the dismal withdrawal from Afghanistan. He offered to resign from his position instead of remaining in the Marines because of the lack of accountability within the top military brass. His resignation was denied, he was arrested, and is currently being held in pretrial confinement at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.\n\nDuring the video post demanding accountability, Lt. Col. Scheller said \u201cI have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.\u201d After posting this video, Lt. Col. Scheller was relieved of his command because of a \u201closs of trust and confidence in his ability to command.\u201d Lt. Col. Scheller was willing to give up his well-deserved benefits in order to ensure that there was accountability for the failures in our withdrawal from Afghanistan. That is the kind of leadership that the American people want, deserve, and demand from their military leaders. Lt. Col. Scheller should have your complete trust and confidence for his willingness to stand up for what is right and to demand our military leaders hold themselves to the highest standards.\n\nLt. Col. Scheller must be immediately released from the brig and allowed to voluntarily resign from his post.\n\nSincerely,\n\nAndy Biggs\n\nMember of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:24:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-biggs-requests-release-lt-col-scheller"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.891208976507187, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}