Trump Slams 'Failing New York Times' For Foiling ISIS Leader's Capture
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) -- In a series of tweets over the weekend, President Donald Trump chimed in on multiple trending topics, including White House leaks, the Russian interference investigation, Hillary Clinton, and the "Amazon Washington Post."
However, one post was unusual, even for the Commander-in-Tweet, accusing the "the Failing New York Times" of foiling an attempt to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.
According to CBS News, that tweet came about 20 minutes after a Fox News ticker headline read: "NYT FOILS U.S. ATTEMPT TO TAKE OUT AL-BAGHDADI."
In the segment, Gen. Raymond Thomas, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), revealed that in 2015, the U.S. had valuable intelligence about al-Baghdadi's whereabouts until "there were some leaks about what we were up to."
Thomas said after a successful raid that killed ISIS oil minister Abu Sayyaf, his wife "gave us a treasure trove of information about where she had just been with Baghdadi in Raqqa."
"Unfortunately it was leaked in a prominent national newspaper about a week later and then he went dead," Thomas said, referring to a New York Times article on June 8, 2015, that carried the headline "A Raid on ISIS Yields a Trove of Intelligence."
Writer Eric Schmitt reported that American intelligence officials seized a wealth of data on "how the organization's shadowy leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, operates and tries to avoid being tracked by coalition forces."
The intelligence community believes al-Baghdadi is still alive with a prominent role in ISIS leadership, despite Syrian and Russian reports of his death.
"I think Baghdadi is alive," said Defense Secretary James Mattis. "I think he's alive and I'll believe otherwise when we know we've killed him. But we're going after him. We assume he is alive."
