[captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] we brought things to justice. Abu bakr albaghdadi is dead. He was the leader of isis, the most ruthless terror in the world. The United States has been searching for bag today they for many years. Capturing or killing baghdadi has been the top priority of my dministration. U. S. Operations have conducted a night time raid in western syria and accomplished their mission in grand style. The u. S. Personnel were incredible and i got to watch much of it. No personnel were lost and a large number of baghdadis companions were killed with him. He died after running into a dead end tunnel wimpering and crying and screaming all the way. 11 children were moved out of the house and uninjured. The only ones remaining were baghdadi in the tunnel and he had dragged three of his Young Children with him and led to certain death. Ignited hits vest and the tunnel caved in on it in addition. Est results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification it was him. The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his st moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American Forces bearing down on him. We were there for two hours and after the mission was accomplished we took highly sensitive material and formation from the raid much having to do with isis origins and future plans and everything we very much want. Baghdadis demise represents the relentless pursuit of terrorist leaders and our commitment to the enduring and total defeat of isis and other terrorist organizations. Our reach is very long. Last month we announced that we recently killed hamza bin violent son of Osama Bin Laden who was saying very bad things about our people, our country, and the world. He was the heir apparent to al qaeda. Terrorists who oppress and murder innocent people should never sleep soundly knowing that we will completely destroy hem. These savage monsters will not escape their fate and they will not escape the final judgment f god. Baghdadi has been on the run for many years, long before i took office. At my direction, as commander in chief of the United States, we obliterated his caliphate 100 in march of this year. Todays events are a reminder hat we will continue to pursue he remaining isis terrorists to their brutal end. That also goes for other errorist organizations, they re likewise in our sights. Abu bakr albaghdadi baghdadi and the losers who work for him, and losers they are, had no idea what they were getting into. In some cases they were very frightened puppies. In other cases they were hardcore killers. They killed many people. Their murder of innocent americans james foley, stephen sokolov, peter kasic and Caleb Mueller were especially heinous. The shocking publicized murder of a jordanian pilot, a wonderful young man. I spoke to the king of jordan, they all knew him and loved him. He was burned alive in a cage for all to see. The execution of christians in libya, and egypt, as well as a genocidal mass murder, rank isis among the most depraved organizations in the history of our world. The forced religious conversions, the orange suits prior to so many beheadings, all of which were openly displayed for the world to see. This was all that Abu Bakr Albaghdadi this is what he wanted. This is what he was proud of. He was a sick and depraved man. Nd now he is gone. Baghdadi was vicious and violent, and he died in a vicious and violent way. As a coward running and crying. This raid was impeccable. It 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. I want to thank the syrian kurds for certain support they were able to give us. This was a very dangerous mission. Thank you as well to the great intelligence professionals who help to 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 close. I want to thank the general and the joint chiefs of staff. I want to thank our professionals at other agencies of the United States government who were critical to the missions unbelievable success. Last night was a great night for the United States and the world. A brutal killer, one 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 like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place. God bless america. Thank you. Any questions . When did this operation get started . Pres. Trump we have had him under surveillance for a couple of weeks. We knew about where he was going, where he was heading. We had very good information that he was going to another location. He did not go. Two or three efforts were canceled because he decided to change his mind, constantly changing his mind. Finally we saw that he was held up, we knew something about the compound. We knew it had tunnels. The tunnels were dead ends for the most part. There was one we think wasnt and we had that covered just in ase. 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 blue blew holes into the side of the building, not wanting to go through the main door because they were boobytrapped. It was something really amazing to see. I got to watch it along with the general, Vice President pence, and others, in the situation room. We watched it so clearly. How did you watch it . I dont want to say how, but as though you are watching a movie. The technology there alone is pretty good. A big part of the trip that was of great danger was, it was approximately an hour and 10 minute flight and we were flying over very dangerous territory. Some of our leaders said that could be the most dangerous, flying in and flying out. That is why last night we were so quiet about it. We did not say anything and i did not make my remark until after they had landed safely in a certain area. The flight in and out was a very dangerous part. There was a chance we would have met unbelievable fire. Russia treated us great. They opened up and we had a flyover. Certain russia held areas. Russia was great. Iraq was excellent. We really had a great cooperation. They did not know what we were doing or where we were going exactly. Isis fighters are hated as much some of these other countries as they are by us. That is why i say they should start doing a lot of the fighting and they will be able to. What role did syria play in this . Not a military role but they give us some information that turned out to be helpful, the kurds. What was the role of turkey . How did they help . Pres. Trump turkey, we dealt with them, they knew we were going in. Flew over some territory. They were terrific, no problems. They could start shooting and then we will take them out. But a lot of bad things can happen. Plus it was a very secret mission. We flew very low and very fast. It was a very dangerous part of the mission. Getting in and getting out, equal. We wanted an 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 had the gunfire terminated immediately. Meaning they were shot from the airships. You talked earlier about troops coming out and coming back in. We are trying to understand the timing of this operation. Pres. Trump from the first day i came to office and now we are getting close to three years, i would say where is al baghdadi . I want him. We would kill terrorist leaders but there were names i never heard of. They were names that were recognizable, they were not the big names. Some good ones and important ones. I kept saying where is albaghdadi . A couple of weeks ago they were able to scope them out. These people are very smart. They are not into the use of cell phones anymore. They are technically brilliant. They use the internet better than almost anybody in the world, perhaps other than donald trump. What they have done with the internet through recruiting he died like a dog, he died like a coward. He was whimpering, screaming, and crying. Frankly i think it is something that should be brought out so his followers and all of these young kids that want to leave the various countries, including the United States, they should see how he died. He did not die a hero, he died a coward. Crying, whimpering, and screaming and bringing three kids with him to death. He knew the tunnel had no end. It was a closed end tunnel. So this was going on before you made the announcement . Pres. Trump i have been looking for him for three years. I started getting some very positive feedback about a month ago. We had some incredible intelligence officials that did a great job. When did this operation start yesterday . Pres. Trump this operation started two weeks ago in terms of the real operation. We had him scoped. We thought he would be in a certain location and he was, things started checking out very well. We were involved on our own team with some brilliant people who i have gotten to know. Brilliant people that love our country. Highly intelligent people. We have had it pretty well scoped out for a couple of weeks. He tends to change immediately. He had a lot of cash. He tends to change on a dime where he will go to a certain location then all of a sudden he will go someplace else. This was one where we knew he was there. You can never be 100 sure. You are basing it on technology more than anything else. We thought he was there than we got a confirmation. When we went in they were greeted with a lot of firepower. A lot of firepower. These guys, they do a job. They are so brave, so good, so importantly many of his people were killed. We will announce the exact number over the next 24 hours. Many were killed. We lost nobody. Think of that. A dog was hurt. The canine was hurt that went into the tunnel. But we lost nobody. You requested the flyovers for those areas pres. Trump we spoke to the russians. We told them we are coming in. They said thank you for telling us. Did you tell them why . Pres. Trump no. We told them we thought they would be happy. They hate isis as much as we do. You know what isis has done to russia. They did not know the mission but they knew we were going over an area where they had a lot of firepower. Did you notify the congressional leaders about this . Pres. Trump we notified some, 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 nothing ive ever seen before. Washington is a leaking machine. I told my people we will not notify them until our people are out. I dont want to have them greeted with firepower like you wouldnt believe. We were able to get in, it was top secret. There were no leaks. The only people that knew where the people that i dealt with. The joint chiefs of staff were incredible. We had some tremendous backup. Robert obrien, secretary esper, secretary pompeo, pence was great. A very small group of people that knew about this. We had very few people. A leak could have caused the death of all of them. They are so good that i think nothing was going to stop them anyway if you want to know the truth. We had them surrounded by massive airpower. Surrounded at very high levels. We were very low. We had tremendous airpower. You watched all this from the situation room . Who are you with . Pres. Trump secretary esper, a few of the joint chiefs, some generals, we had some great military people in that room. We had some great intelligence people. Robert obrien, really great. Was the pullout of the u. S. Troops in syria last month strategically timed with this raid . Pres. Trump its a great question and youre doing a great job. Your network is fantastic. They are doing a great job, please let them know. The pullout had nothing to do with this. We found this out at a similar time, its a very good question. We found this out at a similar time. We are after these leaders and we have others in sight, but this was the big one. This was the biggest one. Hats that we have ever captured. This was the one that built isis and beyond and was looking to rebuild it again, very strongly looking to rebuild it again. This is why he went to this area. I was watching this morning and they were wondering why he was there. That is where he was trying to rebuild from. That is the place that made most sense if you are looking to rebuild. Your tweet last night [indiscernible] pres. Trump i said that right after i knew they had landed safely. When they had returned . I wanted you guys to know there would be Something Big this morning. So you would not be out playing golf or tennis or otherwise being it disposed. Where did they land . Pres. Trump i would rather not say, but we landed in a very friendly port in a friendly country. Did it give you any pause about your decision to withdraw . Pres. Trump i think it is great. We dont want to keep soldiers between syria and turkey for the next 200 years. They have been fighting for hundreds of years. We are out. We are leaving soldiers to secure the oil. We may have to fight for the oil, its ok. It may someone whilst once the his response seems to have oil. Implied that maybe someone else want to the oil, thats ok. It stops isis because isis got tremendous wealth from that oil. We have taken it. Number two, someone else may claim it, we will either negotiate a deal with whoever is claiming it or we will militarily stop them very quickly. We have tremendous power in that port of the world. The airport is nearby. Very big, very monstrous, very powerful and expensive airport that was built a few years ago. We are in the middle east for a 8 trillion. Syria and turkey will have to make their own decisions. The kurds have worked along incredibly with us but 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 them, do you mind moving over seven miles . Could you mind moving over . Turkey has 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 of people from that safe zones. They have always wanted the safe zone. I am glad i was able to help them get it. We dont want to be there. I want our soldiers home or fighting something meaningful. I know who loves us being there. Russia and china. While they build their military we are depleting our military there. Russia loves us being there. For two reasons. Because we kill isis, we kill terrorists, and they are very close to russia. We are 8000 miles away. Maybe they can get here but we have done very well with Homeland Security and the ban, by the way is approved by the United States supreme court. A reporter said we lost the case and he was right. He refused to say that we won the case in the supreme court. We have a very effective ban and it is hard for people to come to our country. It is many thousands of miles away. Russia is right there and turkey is right there. Syria is there. Iran is right there, iraq is right there. They all hate isis. In theory they should do something. The european nations have been a tremendous disappointment. I called, my people called a lot, take your isis fighters. They said we dont want them. They came from france, germany, from the u. K. , they came from a lot of countries. I said to them, if you dont take them i will drop them on your border and you can have fun capturing them again. The United States taxpayer is not going to pay for the next 50 years. You see what guantanamo costs. We are not going to pay billions of dollars because we were good enough to capture people that want to go back to germany, france, the u. K. , and parts of europe. They can walk back. They cant walk to our country. We have lots of water in between our country and them. You mentioned you had gotten to know some brilliant people with this process who had helped provide information and advice. Anyone in particular or would you like to give anyone credit for getting to this point . Pres. Trump i would but if i mention one i have to mention so many. I spoke to senator richard burr, he is very involved with intelligence and the committee. He is a great gentleman. I spoke with Lindsey Graham just a while ago. Lindsey graham is right over here. He has an very much involved in the subject. He is a very strong hawk but i think lindsay agrees with what we are doing now. There are plenty of other countries that can help them i dont want to leave 1000, 2 thousand, 3000 soldiers on the border. Where lindsay and i totally agree is the oil. The oil is so important for so many reasons. It fueled isis. It helps the kurds. It has basically been taken away from the kurds. They were able to live with that oil. Number 38 can help us because we should be able to take some also. What i intend to do perhaps is make a deal with a neck on i deal with on exxon mobil or one of our great countries to go in there and do it properly. It is big oil underground but not big oil up top. Much of the machinery has been shot and dead. It has been through wars. Spread out the wealth. We are protecting the oil. We are securing the oil. That doesnt mean we dont make a deal at some point. They are fighting for a thousand years, fighting for centuries, i want to bring our soldiers back home but i want to secure the oil. If you read about the history of donald trump, i was a civilian. I had nothing to do with going into iraq and i was totally against it. I always used to say if they are going to go in im sure you have heard this if they are going into iraq, keep the oil. They never did. Lindsey graham had a bill where we would have been paid back for all of the billions of dollars that we have spent, many billions of dollars. I hate to say it but its actually trillions of dollars, many billions of dollars and buy by one vote they were unable to get that approved in the senate. They had some pretty big opposition from people who shouldnt have opposed like the president. If you did that iraq would be a different story because they would be owing us a lot of money and treating us differently. Iraq was good with respect to the raid. Just to figure the timing. You got back to the white house at 4 30. Did you immediately go to the situation room . Pres. Trump we thought for three days this was what is going to happen. Nobody was even hurt. Our canine, i call it a dog, a beautiful dog, a talented dog, was injured and brought back. We h