United states. The raid to take him out could boost President Trump whos faced criticism recently for his decision to pull back troops in northeast syria. And, of course, the president is under fierce attack here in washington as House Democrats pursue an impeachment inquiry against him. In a moment well discuss it all with Vice President mike pence. But first, lets get the late from kevin corke live from the white house. Kevin . Reporter chris, an extraordinary News Conference following the president s announcement about the death of the isis leader. He said he died a cowardly death, said he died screaming, crying, even whimpering before detonating a belt which took his life and a few children near him. U. S. Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern syria and accomplished their 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 baghdadis fighters and companions were killed with him. He died after running into a dead end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way. Reporter pretty powerful words there and a very descriptive News Conference by the president , chris. He also described the important cooperation with other nations to make this raid possible. Russia treated us great, they opened up 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 where we were going exactly. But the isis fighters are hated as much by russia and some of these other countries as they are by us. Reporter the president , chris, ultimately said this is not just an important day for the u. S. , but for our Global Partners around the world, in particular those who have been battling terrorism including some folks that he said arent always our best of friends. Chris . Can. Chris kevin, during his speech and then a rather lengthy News Conference with reporters in the diplomatic Reception Room with him which went the better part of an hour, the president was asked about how this played into his new policy towards the middle east and which, as weve seen in syria and afghanistan, the president beginning to pull u. S. Troops out and create a much smaller footprint but also wanting to maintain a vigorous and, obviously in this case, deadly counterintelligence presence in the middle east. What did the president say about all that . Reporter very interesting that you pointed that out, chris, because what we heard the president say in effect, this is precisely what i have in mind, let ethos who are most impacted let those who are most impacted have a hand in the battle. He also bluntly pointed out the u. S. Has spent billions of dollars, if not more, in battling terrorism in that part of the world. His ultimate goal, he said, is to have strategic, specific strikes, take out the important targets and get American Forces back home. He said what happened in this particular cooperative which, obviously, he has known about for the past couple of weeks had nothing to do with the fact that he was convinced that pulling our troops out of that part of syria was the right things to do, chris. Chris now, this was obviously a great military victory and strategic victory for the u. S. , but politics is always present in washington, and towards the end of his News Conference the president was asked whether he had notified congressional leaders and specifically before the raid took place whether he had notified the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, and he interestingly said that he didnt want to do that because he wanted to make sure that we didnt lose any lives. The clear implication being that he didnt quite trust nancy pelosi with National Security information. Talk about that and what the fallout has been from those remarks. Reporter i think the rancor in washington was on full display in making those comments. Obviously, the speaker has been in washington for decades. Given her profile, given her position, if she among anyone cant keep secrets like this, were all lost. And so it did strike a great number of people as a bit of a surprise, to be honest with you. The gang of eight generally does get some notification, chris, when there are major operations like this one. But i think the calculus will probably be for the president and the white house moving forward there was no need as long as let the important principals know what was happening. He mentioned mr. Burr being one of the people that he had a chance to alert, he mentioned Lindsey Graham as well. And so he felt comfortable, chris, and he told enough people and the right people but not the speaker of the house. Chris and what about impeachment . Obviously, this was a military raid, important as part of the global war on terror, but you can never divorce anything that happens in washington from politics. The fact that the president was the commander in chief and ordered this remarkably successful, effective strike, is there any feeling inside the white house i assume youve talked to some white house aides about how this plays out at a time when House Democrats are pursuing inpeachment of the president . Reporter you know how my mornings go, they almost always begin with a series of phone calls, Text Messages at around six in the morning trying to get a sense of whats happening from their perspective so i can then relay that to the viewers at home. And i can tell you based on everything ive heard both prior to this operation and the announcement and even since then and listening to senator Lindsey Graham and others speak about it, the feeling among the white house certainly continues to be that regardless of what happens here in washington, whether its impeachment in the house, whether that happens to move forward in the senate or not, the president will continue from their perspective to battle whether its chasing isis, whether its chasing terrorism around the globe or doing what what he can for the American People. Thats their take. But, chris, i think you have to acknowledge that its not an easy slog especially when you consider sometimes when the pressure builds in a place like washington, it can get to you no matter what you think you might be willing to do. Chris . Chris kevin, thanks so much. And, of course, its extraordinary when all of us reporters and a lot of politicians are focused on whats right in front of us like the debate over policy in syria and the impeachment process, turns out the president for the last couple of weeks has been very involved in, first of all, getting intelligence, then planning and then finally ordering this strike that took down one of americas biggest enemies. Lets get reaction now and reporting from trey yingst who is in our middle east newsroom. Trey, whats the reaction there in the middle east to the takedown of albaghdadi . Reporter well, chris, many World Leaders were waiting until President Trump addressed the nation from washington to respond to reports about the death of isis leader Abu Bakr Albaghdadi. We have just gotten a statement from israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu who congratulated President Trump on an incredible achievement. U. S. Allies across the region, more than ten countries participating in airstrikes and ground operations to destroy isis. So the death of baghdadi was not only a symbolic victory for the United States, but also very much a real military victory for those on the ground. Although he was operating many times in the shadows, calling the shots from behind the scenes, many countries in the region were concerned and are still concerned about the resurgence of the Islamic State and its offshoots. Baghdadi came to power as the leader of the Islamic State back in 2014 when he made that infamous video from a mosque inside mosul saying isis had planned to take over large portions of the middle east. Of he even described it as the takeover of rome, that he would go the whole way across europe. That was the messaging from the Islamic State. And when you heard the president speaking today at the white house, he wanted to make clear to other terror organizations in the region and other isis affiliates and those sympathetic to baghdadi that they have eyes on the ground and they are keeping an eye on many of those who could then fill the shoes of baghdadi. It is important, too, to rook at the resurgeons of isis resurgence of isis from the perspective of the global lens because we know sleep arer cells are operating around the world in places like algeria, libya and afghanistan. This is something the administration is certainly going to have to keep an eye on moving forward. And while the president has said in the past the isis caliphate and isis itself is completely destroyed, that is not true. Isis affiliates are still operating around the world, but as we know today, the leader of the Islamic State, albaghdadi, is dead. Chris . Chris and, trey, what about the possibility of retaliation . Often times when one of the leaders of these jihadi groups dies, there is talk about people striking back, theres a possibility of retaliation in syria, in europe and here even in the u. S. Are jihadi web site groups talking about this . Reporter well, this is certainly a major concern. What weve been able to see monitoring some of these groups on the internet and also reports indicating today that these isis sympathizers are certainly keeping an eye on what is happening. Early reports indicated that many said they didnt believe it was true, but we will continue to follow that, chris, certainly. Back to you. Chris trey yingst reporting from the middle east. Trey, thank you. Joining us now here in studio, the Vice President of the United States, mike pence. Mr. Vice president , thank you so much for coming in today to talk to us. Thank you, chris. Its a great day for america. Albaghdadi, the most wanted man in the world, is dead. And it is a tribute to the courage of our armed forces and to the decisiveness of our commander or in chief, the president of the United States. Chris take us in i know you said you were in the situation room, the president said that for several hours. Take us into the tichtion room. A the situation room. A couple of points. First of all, i remember when the u. S. Took out bin laden, most accounts was there was only about a 50 50 likelihood that he was in that compound. What were the odds that, in fact, it was baghdadi on the ground, and what kind of, what intelligence did we have, how good was it, and take us through that time . You said it was several hours in the situation room. Well, you heard the president this morning commend not only our special forces that took down albaghdadi, but also the extraordinary work of our intelligence agencies. You know, as the president said this morning, we had some indication in the last week that we had a location, but it was thursday afternoon that the president and i were informed that there was a high probability that albaghdadi was going to be in that compound at that point President Trump asked our Armed Forces Leadership to develop options. He was presented with those options on friday morning, and he made an immediate decision that as the information developed and it developed through the Morning Saturday morning eastern time that we would move forward with an operation against albaghdadi. So some indication a week earlier, strong confirmation that came on saturday. But to have been in the situation room, chris, to watch this attack unfold in realtime just made me so proud to be an american, proud to see our special forces, their extraordinary courage and professionalism. And also i want to say very proud to be Vice President to a president who acted so decisively to take down a man who was a threat to this country and a threat to the world as the leader of isis. Chris the president talked about watching it. He said almost as if it were a movie. I mean, were you did you have video on the ground and youre able to see whats going on in the compound and then as the forces go into that tunnel chasing albaghdadi . I think its important that we dont talk about our capabilities, but let me say that we had, we had eyes on what was happening p in realtime. And the president in the situation room was able, in addition to reports coming in from the field, to know exactly what was taking place. It was truly extraordinary. And again, to literally witness in realtime our potential forces, their our special forces, their professionalism, the swift manner in which they got on the target, executed the operation and moved out in just a matter of a few short hours was, it was deeply inspiring. Chris now, the president sounds, made it sound as if you, u. S. Forces, u. S. Military, u. S. Intelligence had a really good sense of what the situation was inside that compound, even the idea of these tunnels and one of them was an exit, most of them were dead end. Again, obviously, being careful not to give away sources and methods, how did we know so much about that compound . Well, it was a combination of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and just outstanding, outstanding work by our team in the field. But what President Trump demonstrated here is even while were bringing our troops home from the safe zone on the border of turkey, this president and americas resolve to defeat isis and to hunt down and destroy any terrorist organization in the world is unrelenting, and thats what the world woke up to learn this morning. Chris yeah, i want to pick up on that because the president has come under a lot of fire from both republicans and democrats about pulling u. S. Troops out of syria. Not all, but the vast majority of them. Hes also talked about trying to draw down in afghanistan, and he has said thats what i campaigned on, to put an end to endless wars. Here is what he said just this last week about pulling back from the middle east. We didnt agree to protect the kurds for the rest of their lives. Supposed to be a very quick hit and lets get out, and it was a quick hit except they stayed for almost ten years. Let someone else fight over this long, bloodstained sand. Chris mr. Vice president , what do you think this raid shows about the u. S. Posture in does it base basically say, yes, well be in the mideast forever but not necessarily with big forces . Maybe with a more targeted, smaller footprint counterintelligence . What does it say . Well, as you just said, what the president said today, what this shows the United States remains committed to the total defeat of isis and any terrorist organization that threatens our country. But this is a president also, and i say this as the father of a United States marine with real gratitude in my heart, the president doesnt want our forces anywhere other than where they have to be, making fights that we know they have to make in our rightal national interests, chris. And at the end of the day, the president looked at the mission. We sent troops into syria in combination with Syrian Democratic forces, our allies. We went in, the territory of the isis caliphate was totally captured and destroyed in march of this year. But what happened was an evolving mission that ended up with a small number of u. S. Troops essentially positioned on the border of turkey between traditional kurdish syria and the turkish military. And the president said were bringing our troops home. P but the minute that Turkish Forces entered syria, the president imposed punishing sanctions, sent our team to ankara, turkey, to negotiate a ceasefire. We were able to create a fiveday window where our allies, the Syrian Defense forces, were able to safely withdraw, and now the International Community will be working with, to certify, to create that safe zone. But, again, thats all about making sure that we create stability in the region, we call our European Partners to that task as well. But what the American People woke up to this morning, what the world woke up to this morning is the resolve of the president of the United States and the armed forces of the United States to use force whenever is necessary to confront those who threaten us or our people. Chris near the end of the News Conference the president was asked specifically whether he had informed the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, about this raid last night. And he said, no, and then he added, i wanted to make sure that no American Forces were lost. The implication seeming to be that he was worried that pelosi or members of congress would leak this. Does the president not trust the speaker of the house with sensitive National Security information . Chris, i dont think that was the implication at all. I think from the time that we got actionable intelligence, the president s total focus here was on a Successful Mission and the safety of american troops chris why didnt he tell nancy we maintained the tightest possible security