Death find the end of a chapter. But no mistake, something does still continue. We dont know what it is but we know that isis was fractured as an ideology and franchise and unlikely that one mans death will end from a stretch from philippines through russia and to the streets of european capitals but an interesting set of questions that the commanderinchief will end up answering about how this raid came about. It was literally miles away from the southern turkish border, an area where many did not imagine abu bakr albaghdadi, the leader of isis, would look for shelter. This is where al qaeda have the biggest strong hold, a place where western intelligence chiefs are concerned about the next wave of jihad but who led them to that particular location. We understand from u. S. Officials turkey was told this operation was happening perhaps already underway and the question being what piece of
information brought them to that spot. The syrian kurds who have been the u. S. Main ally on the ground losing over 10,000 Sons And Daughters but abandoned in the past weeks by the shift in trump policy over syria. Their chief has said this is a result of intelligence gleamed over a fivemonth period that led to this operation. Well wait and see if donald trump confirmed the roll of the syrian kurds theyve abandoned in the last month or so when he gives details during the particular announcement but it is a startling policy with his military here dealing with the withdraw rapidly under appalling circumstances from major parts of syria. So a smaller area now. But while dealing with that extraordinary series of tactical redeployments inside of syria and iraq, they pulled off the most extraordinary feat in terms of hunting down the worlds most wanted man, an extraordinary moment and one in which President Trump will con front
th that the intelligence has led him to this, the goal of his first term. Nake patton walsh in iraq. Jeremy diamond is live at the white house where the president is expected to speak any moment. The president has been criticized over his syria withdraw order and pentagon officials are underlining this particular mission could not have happened without u. S. Troops in syria. What do you expect to hear from President Trump . Reporter well, jake, youre right, after weeks of criticism in syria, this is a moment for the president to mark a significant Foreign Policy victory and try to define this as a legacydefining moment. Weve seen him tout the socalled caliphate in iraq and syria and this is an opportunity for the president to tout the effective decapitation of the isis organization with the death that were learning of abu bakr albaghdadi. The president keyed this up last night by tweeting that something very big had just happened. And of course it is something
big. Because bagdadi was the leader of this organization who inspired the attacks that killed 14 people in san bernardino, california, 49 people at the Pulse Nightclub in orlando, florida. But the question is this does not mark the death of that ideology and doesnt mark the death of the thousands of isis fighters who still remain, some of them underground in in syria and we expect him to continue to face questions about the future of that fight against isis, particularly amid this withdraw of u. S. Troops from syria. Jake. Jeremy diamond at the white house. As we await President Trump any moment now and well bring that to you live and im joined by three experts and former director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper and former congressman mike rogers and former Homeland Security security adviser to president
obama lisa monaco. Thanks one and all. General clapper, obviously this is a big moment for u. S. Forces for the president and the u. S. And anyone who hates terrorism. What questions are you hoping President Trump will answer in his statement this morning . Well im very interested for me the contribution of the Intelligence Community that led to this. It looks like this is kind of a reminiscent of the Textbook Relationship between intelligence and Special Operations that took down Osama Bin Laden. And it is very reminiscent of that. And it is quite significant. A huge symbolic meeting for taking out bagdadi, who has been a target for some time. I think what is going to be interesting is to the extent to which this negatively effects isis or does it galvanize isis, the remnants of isis, which
still survives as a ideology and has franchises in other places besides syria. And lisa, well find out more about the president s role in authorizing this. But take us inside of the room. What is it like for a president when he is presented with options we think of abu bagdadi is in this place and here are some of the military options. That is a tough for any president. And president s get paid to make the tough calls and the risky calls. But at bottom, this day is about the professionalism and the dedication of the men and women of the u. S. National Security Community so inside of the Situation Room and i along with jim clapper has been in that room many hours dealing with very dangerous operations like this one most assuredly was. And what youre looking for is to present the president with as much information as possible and what are the options or the potential risks and putting that
all on the table. What are the potential risks to our forces in the region . To our embassies in the region for potential retaliation and the fbi and department of Homeland Security doing here at home to mitigate any potential retaliatory acts by followers, those who are inspired by isis. Remember, of course, isis gains its notoriety for becoming an army that took territory the size of Great Britain at one point and for planning and motivating attacks in europe and other places. But most importantly i think by having an ideology and spawning a social movement and inspiring those to be radicalized on social media and that is what weve seen here at home on some of the attacks that our colleague from cnn just mentioned. So we want to be thinking very carefully about what are the risks and the plans in place to mitigate those and present the president with the information. Also about the risk to our very
brave men and women who were undertaking this operation. And chairman rogers, let me ask you, abu im going to mess up his name. Bagdadi. He was not just the leader of isis, he founded isis. He did. So his death is a very significant one i would think. But does it end the isis ideology . Oh, it wont end the ideology for sure and there are other Branch Offices that they established in africa and other places that are gaining steam. What we found even after the Osama Bin Laden raid and what weve learned in the last 18 years in fighting terrorism, is tempo is important. You cant take out the leader and then decide youre going to pack up and come home. That wouldnt work. That will work against you. So the next few months are equally important. And that was significant. It was important. The symbolism is huge and he was a real ontheground Battlefield Leader and provided inspiration
to his followers. So that part of removing that is going to have a big impact on them but the next couple of months is also critically important. Can we maintain tempo . Can you go after other leadership of isis and start to push them to a place where they cannot plan, operate, train, finance events, not only just in syria but in their Satellite Offices as well. Very interesting point. And so with the death of abu bakr albaghdadi, general, are you concerned this will would galvanize isis. Do you think it is important as chairman rogers just suggested to keep up the tempo and for u. S. Forces to stay in the region to make sure this doesnt become a main call for these terrorists . Absolutely. I think chairman rodgers is exactly right. Isis is more than just bagdadi, as importanty as important as he was. 14,000 to 18,000 fighters yet remaining and the franchise are
branches in other places. Notably afghanistan where of course we still have forces. Isis did participate losing leadership. So they decentralized and groomed people to assume the role. Now i dont know that they have anybody would have the symbolic importance of bagdadi. But i dont think we can say at this point that we can stop worrying about isis. And everybody here obviously is unanimous in saying that is important. But i just dont want to take away from the moment. This is an importnt moment for the u. S. For u. S. Special operators who Risk Everything to bring more safety and security to the United States. The leader of the Kurdish Military with which the United States aligned, the sdf, just said the operation began about five months ago. What does that mean to you, lisa . Does that mean gathering intelligence, maybe even putting a spy into the isis region or
into the isis circle where this operation and raid went down . It could mean a host of things and it underscores the importance of that partnership. The Kurdish Military and thefiers that were the pointing end of the spear for our fight against isis. Weve been with them now for a number of years and that means fighting, supporting their fight on the ground, developing intelligence, feeding that back to the u. S. Intelligence community to develop operations like this one. So it could mean a whole host of things. But it does underscore the importance of that partnership and just how vital it has been to be with them and to work by, with and through that very brave fighting force. And we find out more about this and especially in terms of the difference between Signals Intelligence which is surveillance which we heard a lot about during the bin laden
raid and Human Intelligence and spies and informants and they are both very important especially going into an area of syria where isis is not known to have a presence. Completely. And this is an area that we dont normally operate so the intelligence had to be obtained at least on the ground through partners and folks that we work with on the ground. What was important about this Osama Bin Laden raid, yes, it was Signal Intelligence but the Analytical Corp of the Intelligence Community were able to piece together small bits of information of how couriers got in and out of the Osama Bin Laden compound which led to the discovery of that compound. So it wasnt just Signals Intelligence, it was critically important, it wasnt just Human Intelligence, they had bits and pieces of sighting or identifying, it was identifying the courier route to put small pieces together. I bet when they do the forensics
of this particular raid, youll find the same similarities, people focused on the target in the neighborhood who understand the players in the neighborhood. Meaning our presence on the ground in syria as small as it was was probably critically important to putting the intelligence package together. There is an old saying in intelligence, it is access, access, access. You need to be as close to the problem as you can if your going to get information that would lead to a raid like this. Well find out how much congress was notified about this ahead of time, if at all. I believe it is customary to alert the Heads Of Congress and the heads of the house and Senate Intelligence committee. Is that what happened during bin laden raid . So my experience with very sensitive operations like this one is one of the things that youll be talking about in the Situation Room after the Intelligence Community briefs this operation and you consider all of the other risks the question will turn to how and when do we notify the key
members of congress that could involve the leadership, the leadership of both the house and the senate, the Gang Of Eight, as it were, which of course chairman rodgers was a member of, so the leadership of the house and Senate Intelligence committees and my experience is that is done after the operation has concluded to a point where our folks are out of harms way. And that is because of the fear that there will be a leak. Exactly. And that was the case in the ubl raid, an attempt to cloister the information and ensure that our people were safe that conducted the raid before word gets out because that is news like that is hard to contain. Is that something that the gang Gang Of Eight and for those watching it is the leader of the house and senate, both democrats and republicans and the leaders
and top Minority Party of the house and Senate Intelligence committees, eight individuals. You were a member of the Gang Of Eight when you were chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Finding out after the fact or finding out once before the facing does, but before you could have a say in it or anything, is that something that congress understands . This cases have very, very different. I have a great relationship with the Central Intelligence agency and the director and other players in the Intelligence Business so my democratic counterpart and i were brought on in january once we were sworn in as leadership and followed the package as it developed including the notification that was going to happen before it happened. But that is very rare and ill tell you why that is rare is for the environment that you see today. If i would were sitting in that chair, i would equally be very cautious about sharing any of that preevent. And at that time the committee was focused on intelligence work and making the community, given
the resources to be successful, all of those things. So in that case it was very, very different. Matter of fact it was called before the raid happened, it was call when it got called off the first time and then called again. So but that is a developed relationship and any oversight operation. You have to work to have that kind of a relationship with the Intelligence Community. Right. And i certainly wouldnt i cannot even possibly imagine having any of those briefings today. And importantly in the case of House Intelligence Committee under the chairmanship of mike rodgers and the Ranking Member operated on a bipartisan basis which made them in the eyes of Intelligence Committee i could say more credible. The way the Senate Intelligence committee is right now. Well much like the senate appears to be now. Operating on a bipartisan basis and that is hugely important for the development of and sustainment of trust. A committee source, a source
on the House Intelligence Committee tells us that chairman schiff has not yet been briefed even now even as we expect President Trump any minute to come out and talk about this. That seems surprising . Not to me. And ill tell you why. The dysfunction. You cant have that much dysfunction in that committee. It is now leading an Impeachment Inquiry which to me is not the business of an Intelligence Committee. There are very important work and oversight that needs to happen. And in the Osama Bin Laden raid, and if they reached out, if it went wrong there was a significant price to pay. This was in another country and had to cross the border into that country, getting by early was smart and important and they did that. And in this particular case it doesnt have that same magnitude of crossing a border, we already had troops in this particular region but there is there are
implications in this. We had russian units near hezbollah and operating near that particular area. It is a kind of a stew of terrorism up in that area and folks who arent necessarily cooperative to the United States. So this is was not without high risk. And our operators and intelligence officials get high marks for that. But to try to walk down in this political environment and Sharp Elbowed Environment where i have a piece of information that helps me and hurts you and they might use it to that end, i think it is exactly why he doesnt know to this day. I would just say it is in stark contrast to my experience. So after very sensitive operations, Hostage Rescue Operations or attempted, et cetera, i would be on the phone when i was the president obamas counterterrorism adviser i would be on the phone talking to democratic and republican members of congress to inform them and brief them on the operation and to be in a constant dialog. So i think that is how it should operate. That is a reflection of the building of trust that is very important as chairman rogers said and the house of the Intelligence Committee regardless of what is else is going on in that particular body hasnt been briefed is a testament to real dysfunction. It is surprising that he wont be briefed or get a heads up given the fact that President Trump is going to come out any moment and talk about this. I get that the white house doesnt like adam schiff, the chairman of House Intelligence Committee and they dont like the Impeachment Inquiry and on and on and i get that committee has not been the same since you left the helm but he is still the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Right. And i can only underline what chairman rodgers had just said about the current environment
under normal conventional rules, proto cal and interesting to know if they were notified and the chairman is a republican. And when president obama announced the obl raid, that was announced on a sunday night after 11 00. I remember i was i was a White House Correspondent and i got the alert around 9 30 on a sunday night and we had to run in and he gave us the news as soon as he could give us the news, the country the news. This information happened, this happened last night. And there is no reason to announce it at 9 00 a. M. And to delay the announcement that were now almost 20 minutes into the 9 00 a. M. Hour and we were told this would start at 9 00 a. M. Unless, of course, the president is trying to have a big buildup. This is the showmanship we know he appreciates. This is part of this. And given the fact that so much of what the sunday shows are here he comes. Here is President Trump 20 minutes late with a big announcement. Last night the United States brought the worlds number one Terrorist Leader to justice. Abu bakr albaghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of isis. The most ruthless and violent Terror Organization anywhere in the world. The United States has been searching for bagdadi for many years. Capturing or Killing Bagdadi has been the top national security
priority of my administration. U. S. Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring night time raid. In Northwestern Syria an accomplishmented mission in grand style, the u. S. Personnel were incredible. I got to watch much of it. No personnel were lost in the operation. While a large number of bagdadis fighters and companions were killed with him. He died after running into a dead end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way. The compound had been cleared by this time with people either surrendering or being shot and killed. 11 Young Children were moved out of the house and are uninjured. The only ones remaining were bagdadi in the tunnel and he had dragged three of his Young Children with him. They were led to certain death. He reached the end of the tunnel as our dogs chased him down. He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children. His body was mutilated by the blast. The tum had caved in on it in addition. But test results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification. It was him. The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of
the American Forces bearing down on him. We were in the compound for approximately two hours and after the mission was accomplishmented, we took highly sensitive material and information from the raid, much having to do with isis, origins, future plans, things that we very much want. Bagdadi demise represents the Recentless Pursuit of Isis Leadersar our commitment to the defeat of isis and other terrorist organizations. Our reach is very long. As you know last month we announced that we recently killed hamza bin laden, the very violent son of Osama Bin Laden who was saying very bad things about people, about our country,
about the world. He was the Heir Apparent to al qaeda. Terrorist whoo press and murder innocent people should never sleep soundly knowing that we will completely destroy them. These savage monsters will not escape their fate and they will not escape the final judgment of god. Bagdadi has been on the run for many years, long before i took office. But at my direction as commanderinchief of the United States, we on later ated his caliphate 100 in march of this year and this is a reminder we will continue to pursue the remaining isis terrorists to their brutal end. That also goes for other terrorist organizations. They are likewise in our sights. Bagdadi and the losers who worked for him and losers they are, they had no idea what they were getting into, in some cases they were very frightened puppies in other cases they were hard core killers. But they killed many, many people. Their murder of Innocent Americans james foley, steven sotloff, peter kasich and Kayla Mueller were especially heinous. The shocking publicized murder of jordanian pilot, a wonderful young man, spoke to the king of jordan, they all knew him and
they all loved him. He was burned alive in a cage for all to see. On the execution of christians in libya and egypt and as well as the genocidal mass murder of theis among theis edies rank them among the most terrorism organizations the history of our world. The forces religious conversions, the orange suits prior to so many beheadings. All of which were openly displayed for the world to see. This was all abu bakr albaghdadi, this is what he wanted. This is what he was proud of. He was a sick and depraved man. And now hes gone. Bagdadi was vicious and violent and he died in a vicious and violent way. As a Coward Running and crying. This raid was impeccable and could only have taken place with the acknowledgment and help of certain other nations and people. I want to thank the nations of russia, turkey, syria, and iraq and i also want to thank the syrian kurds for certain support they were able to give us. This was a very, very dangerous mission. Thank you as well to the great intelligence professionals who helped make this very successful journey possible. I want to thank the soldiers and sailors, airmen and marines involved in last nights operation. You are the very best there is anywhere in the world no matter
where you go, there is nobody even close. I want to thank general mark millie and our Joint Chiefs Of Staff and i also want to thank our professionals who work in other agencies of the United States government and were critical to the missions unbelievable success. Last night was a great night for the United States and for the world. A brutal killer, once who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been eliminated. He will never again harm another innocent man, woman, or child. He died last a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place. God bless america. Thank you. Any questions . When did you first hear this was an operation that was going to get started . Weve had him under surveillance for a couple of weeks. We knew a little bit about where he was going, where he was heading. We had very good information that he was going to another location. He didnt go. Two or three efforts were canceled because he decided to change his mind, constantly changing his mind. And finally we saw that he was here, held up here. We knew something about the compound and we knew it had tunnels. Tunnels were dead end for the most part. There was one that we think that wasnt but we had that covered too just in case. The level of intelligence, the level of work was pretty amazing. When we landed with eight helicopters, a large crew of brilliant fighters ran out of
those helicopters, and blew holes into the side of the building. Not wanting to go through the main door because that was boobytrapped. And there was something really amazing to see. I got to watch it along with general millie, Vice President pence, others in the Situation Room. And we watched it so clearly. How did you watch this well i dont want to say how but we had absolutely perfect, as though you were watching a movie. It was that the technology there alone is really great. A big part of the trip that was of great danger was the it was proximately an hour and 10 minute flight and were flying over very, very dangerous territory. In fact, some of our leaders said that that could be the most dangerous, flying in and flying
out. And that is why last night we were so quiet about it. We didnt say anything. And i didnt make my remark until after they had landed safely in a certain area. But the flight in and flight out was a very, i have dangerous part. There was a chance that we would have met unbelievable fire. Russia treated us great, they opened up and we had to fly over certain russia areas, russiaheld areas. Russia was great. Iraq was excellent. We really had great cooperation. And you have to understand they didnt know what we were doing and where we were going exactly. But the isis fighters are hated as much by russia and some of the other countries as they are by us. And that is why i say they should start doing a lot of the fighting now and i believe
theyll be able to. I believe theyll be able to. Yes, jennifer. You coucould you tell us wha the kurd gave. They gave us some information that turned out to be helpful. Could you tell us the role of turkey in iraq. Who . What was the role of turkey . Turkey, we dealt with them. They knew we were going in. We flew over some territory. They were terrific. No problem. They were not problem. They could start shooting and then well take them out but a lot of bad things can happen. Plus it was a very secret mission. We flew very, very low and very, very fast. But it was a big it was a very dangerous part of the mission. Getting in and getting out, too, equal. We went in identical we took an identical route. We met with Gunfire Coming in. But it was local gunfire. That gunfire was immediately
terminated. These people are amazing. They the gunfire terminated immediately. Meaning, they were shot from the airships. Were trying to understand the timing. You talked earlier about pulling troops out, and then troops were put back in and trying to understanding the timing of when this operation well, ill tell you, from the first day i came to office and now were getting close to three years, i would say where is al bagdadi. I want al baghdady. And we would kill names that i werent recognizable and they were good ones or important ones but not the big ones. I kept saying where is al bagdadi . And a couple of weeks ago they were able to scope him out. These people are very smart, they are not into the use of cell phones any more. Theyre very technically brilliant. They use the internet better than almost anybody in the world, perhaps other than donald trump. But they use the internet incredibly well and what theyve done through the internet and that is why he died loik a dog, he died like a coward. He was whimpering and screaming and crying and frankly i think it should be something to be brought out so the followers and the young kids that want to leave various countries, including the United States, they should see how he diedch he didnt die a hero. He died a coward. Crying and whimpering and screaming and bringing three kids with him to die a certain death. And he knew the tunnel had no end. It was a closed end they call it a closedend tunnel. Not a good place to be. So this is before you made the announcement that youre ive been looking for him for three years. Ive been looking for him i started getting some very positive feedback about a month ago. And we had some incredible intelligence official that did a great job. That is what they should be focused on. About what time did this operation start yesterday, sir . And have you notified well this started two weeks ago in terms of real operation. Because we had him scoped. We thought he would be in a certain location. He was. Things started checking out very well. We were involved on our own team with some brilliant people who ive gotten to know. Brilliant people that love our country. Highly intelligent people. And we weve had it pretty well scoped out for a couple of weeks. But he tends to change immediately. He had a lot of cash. He tends to change like on a dime. Where hell be going to a certain location all of a sudden hell go someplace else and youll have to cancel. But this was one where we knew he was there and you could never be 100 sure because youre basing it on technology more than anything else. But we thought he was there. And then we got a confirmation. And when we went in they were greeted with a lot of fire power. A lot of fire power. Ill tell you, these guys do a job. They are so brave and so good and so importantly many of his people were killed and well announce the exact number over the next 24 hours. But many were killed. We lost nobody. Think of that. That is incredible. You told the russians requested my dog was hurt the k9 was hurt when it went into the tunnel. But we lost nobody. You requested to the russians to fly over this area that controlled. What did you tell them i spoke to the russians. What did you tell them . We told them were coming in. And they said thank you for telling us. They were very good. But did you tell them why . No. They did not know why. Was any other country we did tell them we think youre going to be very happy because again they hate isis as much as we do. You know what isis is in russia. So, no, we did not tell and they did not know the mission but they knew they were going over the area that they had a lot of fire power. And have you notified the congressional committees about this pelosi we have notified some and others are being notified now as i speak. We were going to notify them last night but we decided not to do that because washington leaks like ive never seen before. There is nothing there is no country in the world that leaks like we do. And washington is a Leaking Machine and i told my people, we will not notify them until the our great people are out. Not just in, but out. I dont want to have them greeted with fire power like you wouldnt believe. We were able to get in and it was top secret and kept and no leaks or no nothing. The only people that knew were the few people i dealt with. And again, mark millie and the Joint Chiefs Of Staff were incredible. We had some tremendous backup. Robert obrien, secretary esper, secretary pompeo, pence i told you was great. This is a small group of people that knew about this. We had very few people. A leak a leak could have caused the death of all of them. Now they are so good that i think nothing was going to stop them anyway. You want to know the truth. That is how good we were. We had them also surrounded by massive air power up in the air yesterday surrounded at very high levels. We were very low. We had tremendous air power. And you watched all this from
the sit room. Who were you with in the sit room when you watched this . Secretary esper, a few of the joint chiefs, mark millie, some generals, we had some very great military people in that room. And we had some great intelligence people. Robert obrien. Really great. Yes. Was the route of the u. S. Troops in syria last month strategically tied in with this raid . No. The pullout right. Great question. And youre doing a great job by the way. Your network is fantastic. They are really doing a great job. Please let them know. No, the pullout had nothing to do with this. In fact, we found this out at a similar time. This is a very good question because we found this out at a very similar time. Were after the leaders and we have others in sight. Very bad ones. But this is the big one. This is the biggest one. Perhaps that weve ever captured because this is the one that built isis. And beyond. And was looking to rebuild it again. Very, very strongly looking to build it again. That is why he went to this province. That is why he went to this area. A lot of people i was watching this morning and hearing and saying why was he there. People were so surprised. Well that is where he was trying to rebuild from. Because that was the place that made most sense if you look to rebuild. Yeah. You said in your tweet last night, at what moment did you decide to so i sent that right after i knew they had landed safely. When they had returned . And that was to notify you guys that Something Big this morning so you wouldnt be out playing golf or tennis or or otherwise being indisposed. Where did they land . I would rather not say but we landed in a very friendly port in a friendly country. Give you any pause about your decision to withdraw . No, i think it is great. Look, we dont want to keep soldiers between syria and turkey for the next 200 years. Theyve been fighting for hundreds of years. Were out. But we are leaving soldiers to secure the oil. Now we may have to fight for the oil. Thats okay. Maybe somebody else wants the oil, in which case they have a hell of a fight but there is massive amounts of oil and were securing it for a couple of reasons. Number one, it stops isis because isis got tremendous wealth from that oil. We have taken it and secured it. And number two, somebody else may claim it but either well negotiate a deal who is claiming it if we think it is fair or militarily stop them. We have clout there in the world, the airport is very nearby. A very big and monstrous and very powerful airport and very
expensive airport built years ago. Were in there for were in that middle east now for 8 trillion. So we dont want to be keeping syria and turkey theyll have to make their own decision. The kurds have worked along incredibly with us but in all fairness it was much easier dealing with the kurds after they went through three days of fighting because that was a brutal three days. We would have said to the kurds, hey, do you mind moving over seven miles because they were in the middle mostly. So you have seven or eight miles. Could you mind moving over. Because i have to say, turkey is taken tremendous deaths from that part of the world. We call it a safe zone but it was anything but a safe zone. Turkey has lost thousands and thousands of people from that safe zone. So theyve always wanted that safe zone for many years. Im glad i was able to help them get it. But we dont want to be there. We want to be home. I want our soldiers home. Were fighting something that is
meaningful. Ill tell you who loves us being there. Russia and china. Because while they build their military, were depleting or military there so russia loves us being there. Now russia likes us being there for two reasons. Because we kill isis, we kill terrorists and theyre very close to russia. Were 8,000 miles away. Maybe they could get here but weve done very well with Homeland Security and the band which, by the way, is approved by the United StatesSupreme Court as you know. There was a reporter that said we lost the case. And he was right. In the early court. He didnt want to say. Just refused to say that we won the case in the Supreme Court. So you know but we have a very effective ban but it is hard for people to come to our country but it is several thousand miles away but russia and turkey and syria are right there and excuse me, iran and iraq is right there. They all hate isis. So we dont you know, in theory they should do something. Ill give you something else, the european nations have been a tremendous disappointment because i personally called and my people called a lot, take your isis fighters and they didnt want them. They said we dont want them. They came from france, they came from germany. They came from the u. K. They came from a lot of countries. And i actually said to them, you dont take them, im going to drop them right on your border. And you could have fun capturing them again. But the United States taxpayer is not going to pay for the next 50 years. You see what guantanamo costs. Were not going to pay tens of billions of dollars because we were good enough to capture people that want to go back to germany, france, u. K. And other parts of europe and they can walk back. They cant walk to our country. We have lots of water in between our country and them. So yeah, go. You mentioned you got to know brilliant people along the process to help provide information and advice along the way. Is there anyone in particular or would you like to give anyone credit for getting to this point today . Well i would but if i mention one i have to mention so many. I spoke to senator richard burr this morning. And as you know hes very involved with intelligence and the committee. And hes a great gentleman. I spoke with Lindsey Graham just a little while ago. In fact Lindsey Graham is right over here and very much involved in the subject and hes hes a very strong hawk. But i think lindsey agrees with what were doing now. And again there are plenty of other countries that could help them patrol. I dont want to leave a thousand or 2,000 or 3,000 soldiers on the border. But where lindsey and i totally is a agree is the oil. The oil is so valuable for many
reasons. It fueled isis, number one. Number two, it helps the kurds. Because it is basically been taken away from the kurds. They were able to live with that oil. And number three, it could help us because we should be able to take some also. And what i intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an exxonmobil or one of our Great Companies to go in there and do it properly. Right now it is not big. It is big oil underground but it is not big oil up top. And much of the machinery has been shot and dead. It has been through wars. But spread out the wealth. But no, were protecting the oil. Were securing the oil. Now that doesnt mean we dont make a deal at some point. But theyre fighting for a thousand years. Theyre fighting for centuries. I want to bring our soldiers back home but i did want to secure the oil. If you read about the history of
donald trump, i was a civilian. I had absolutely nothing to do with going into iraq and i was totally against it. But i always used to say if theyre going to go in, nobody cared that much. But it got written about. If they are going to go in and im sure you heard the statement, and any human being alive, if they are going into iraq, keep the oil. They never did. They never did. I know Lindsey Graham had a bill where we would have been paid back for all of the bills of dollars that weve spent. Many, many billions of dollars. And i hate to say it, it is actually trillions of dollars. But many, many bills of dollars. And by one vote they were unable to get that approved in the senate. They had some pretty big opposition from people that shouldnt oppose like a president and they werent able. If you did that iraq would be a much different story today because they would owe us a lot of money. They would be treating us much differently. But i will say iraq was very good with respect to the raid
last night. Just to pin down the timing a little bit better here. You got back to the white house around 4 30 yesterday afternoon. Did you immediately go to the Situation Room. I knew about this for three days. We thought for three days this is what was going to happen. It was actually nobody was even hurt. Our k9 as i call i call it a dog. A beautiful dog. A talented dog. Was injured and brought back. But we had no soldier injured and they did a lot of shooting, and they did a lot of blasting. Even not going through the front door. You would think you go through the door. If your a normal if your a normal person, you say knock, knock, could i come in and blasted into the house in a very heavy wall and it took them literally seconds by the time those things were off, they had a Beautiful Big Role And Ran In and got everybody by surprise. Unbelievably brilliant as fighters. I cant imagine there could be anybody better. And these, as you know, are our top operations people. And bagdadi had a h been in bad health. We dont know that. And he was the last one out. And most of the people were killed or gave up and came out because with the 11 children that came out, were able to do that. We dont know if they were his children. They might have been. But as i said, three died in the tunnel. And the tunnel collapsed with the explosion. But you had other fighters coming out also. And theyre being brought back. Theyre being right now we have them imprisoned. Do you remember what time you went into the Situation Room . Well, i started at 5 00. We were pretty much gathered at
5 00 yesterday. We were in contact all day long through hopefully secure phones. Ill let you know tomorrow. But nothing seemed to leak so i guess they were secure for a change. But we gathered more or less at 5 00. The attack started moments after that. The liftoff started moments after was getting from our base into that compound, because theres tremendous firepower that we were, you know, flying over. Uh, and i wont go into it but you had a very big russian presence in one area, you had a turkish presence, you had a syrian presence. And youre flying low. Its very dangerous. And there were shots made but we think these were people that were shooting that were
indiscriminately shooting. The helicopters took some shots. We think these were people that were just random people that dont like to see helicopters, i guess. Reporter is there any kind of dna test done . So thats another part of the genius of these people. They have his dna. More of it than they want, even. And they brought it with them with Lab Technicians who were with them. And they assumed that this was bagdadi. They thought visually it was him. But they assumed it was him. And they did a site, an onsite test. They got samples. And to get to his body they had to remove a lot of debris because the tunnel had collapsed, but these people are very good at that. And as i said, they brought body parts back with them, et cetera, et cetera. There wasnt much left. The, uh, the vest blew up but
there are still substantial pieces they brought back. They did an onsite test because we had to know this. And it was a very quick cool that took place about 15 minutes after he was killed. And it was positive. This is a confirmation, sir. Reporter it is also reported his wife or one of his wives had detonated a vest. There were two women. Two women. Both wives. Both wearing vests. They had not detonated. But the fact that they were dead and had vests on made it very difficult for our men because they had vests on. And it made it very difficult for our men. Because you never know whats going to happen. They aligned their dead. They never detonated it. But they were dead. Reporter on possible
successors, have you been briefed on yeah, we know successors, we have them in our siteghts. We know our successors. Hamza was a very big thing. Osama bin laden became big with the world trade center. This was a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, a country, a caliphate, and was trying to do it again. And, uh, i had not heard too much about his health. Ive heard stories about he may not have been good health. He died in a ruthless, vicious manner, that i can tell you. [ Inaudible Question ] yes, we have people that were taken. We have many of the people died on the site. But we have people who were taken, yes. And the children, we are we left them under care of somebody
that we understand. 11 children. Reporter 11 children, how many adults . I would rather not say. Ill leave that to the generals. A small group. More dead than alive. Reporter which Special Operations teams were involved . Many of them. And at the top level. And people that were truly incredible at their craft. Ive never seen anything like it. Reporter as far as partnerships goes, were there any other forces involved or only american troops . Only American Forces. Only American Forces. But we were given great cooperation. We told the russians were coming in, because we had to go over them. And they were curious but, uh, we said were coming. And we said, one way or the other, look, were coming. But they were really
cooperative. They were good. And it would be a mission they would like too, because again, they hate isis as much as we do. Reporter for intel purposes, was there any foreign intel that proved useful along the way in this operation . So we had our own intel. We got very little help. We didnt need very much help. We have some incredible people. When we use our intelligence correctly, what we can do is incredible. When we waste our time with intelligence, that hurts our country, because we had poor leadership at the top, thats not good. But ive gotten to know many of the intel people and i will say that they are spectacular. Now, theyre not going to want talk about it. Thats the last thing they want, because these great patriots. But the people ive been dealing with are great people, its a deserving name, intelligence. Ive dealt with people who arent very intelligent having
to do with intel. But these are the top people. It was incredible, it was flawless, and it was very complicated. So i do appreciate russia, turkey, iraq, and syria to an extent, because, uh, you know, were flying into syria, a lot of Syrian People with lots of guns. So we had, uh, good cover for probably the most dangerous part. When you fly in, it doesnt sound like thats the most dangerous, when you go in shooting, all the things that happened when they broke into that powerful compound, that was a pretty strong compound, and as i said, it had tunnels. But the most dangerous part, we had great cooperation with yes, maam. Reporter did you inform Speaker Pelosi ahead of time . No, i didnt do that. I wanted to make sure this kept secret. I didnt want people lost. Reporter will you be inviting Special Forces teams to the white house . Oh, yeah, theyll be invited. I dont know if theyll want their faces shown. Theyre incredible for the country. As were looking at the press conference, and it turns to lesser matters like who will be invited to the white house, lets talk about the announcement President Trump just made. To recap, he said last night u. S. Special operators, he didnt mention who it was, but we have been told Delta Force Operators have been part of it, raided that building and in that raid were isis creator, founder, and leader Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi was, bagdadi was killed. The president painted a very vivid picture of bagdadi grabbing three of his children, running down a tunnel, and detonating a suicide vest in which he killed himself and his three children. Other terrorists of isis were killed and captured according to President Trump. Again, im joined by former top u. S. Officials and experts in the fight against terrorism and isis. Lets discuss. First of all, i just have to say, a lot of details from President Trump. And im wondering, i dont want to take away the moment from him or the u. S. Government for our Special Operators, obviously this is a big and important moment. But were you concerned at all listening to that whether he was giving too much information . Im a journalist, i want it all, but i saw some grimaces around this table. I was struck. I was struck by the details about having known ahead of time, i believe thats what the president said, they knew ahead of time that there were tunnels, they knew ahead of time that there were booby traps. That says to me there was intelligence gathered most likely from intelligence on the ground. Thats potentially concerning, and i wonder how intelligence
officials who labored long and hard on this operation felt about that. Lets take a moment also to talk about the partly sunnys long list of people he thanked. He started with russia, then talked about syria, turkey, iraq. He then said that there was some support from the kurds. He did ultimately think, obviously, the Special Operators and the Intelligence Community. What did you make of all of that . Well, to me, that was where he got into this rambling thing. I thought he was pretty good when he stuck to the teleprompter. He went through a list of important, i think, announcements about the raid. By the way, including for the first time talking about how bad isis really is on the ground. Forced rapes, children forced into committing executions, to teach them at a young age. The burning of the pilot in the cage. They were raping, pillaging, and murdering all across syria. I think the country needed to be reminded how Bad Al Bagdadi was