President Trump went into great detail describing what happened during the raid that led to the demise of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but some current and former U.S. officials told NBC News they were wincing as he spoke.
Trump discussed the "K-9, as they call it, I call it a dog" that went after Baghdadi and was injured when he detonated a suicide vest, and revealed that "highly sensitive material and information" was seized from Baghdadi's compound. Not everything was accurate though, the officials said. For instance, Trump declared that Baghdadi was "crying and screaming" while being chased by U.S. forces, but officials told NBC News they didn't hear any such sounds.
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There are concerns that Trump, by revealing both highly classified and sensitive information, tipped off terrorist groups, giving them valuable insight into how the U.S. gathers intelligence. By saying that the U.S. now has documents outlining ISIS's plans for the future, it makes it harder for the military to carry out operations against militants, the officials said. Trump talked about how the helicopters landed at Baghdadi's compound, that the U.S. knew there were dead-end tunnels underground, and that there was a robot on hand to assist the special forces — tactical information that terrorist groups shouldn't know. Read more at NBC News.
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