Chris Wallace grills Pence on Trump hiding Baghdadi raid from Congress
Vice President Mike Pence defended President Trump’s decision to withhold details from Congress about the raid to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
During a press conference on Sunday morning, Trump revealed that he did not tell House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or members of the House Intelligence Committee about the raid to kill Baghdadi.
Trump expressed concerns that members of Congress would have leaked information about the raid, putting U.S. forces in danger ahead of their mission.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace pressed Pence on the decision to withhold that information from House Democrats.
“Does the president not trust the speaker of the House with sensitive national security information?” Wallace asked.
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Pence skirted away from Trump’s assertion that Pelosi or House Democrats might leak information.
“I don’t think that was the implication at all,” Pence said. “I think from the time we got actionable intelligence, the president’s total focus here was on a successful mission and the safety of American troops.”
That answer didn’t cut it for Wallace, who continued, “But why didn’t he tell Nancy Pelosi?”
Pence claimed the White House wanted to maintain the “tightest possible security,” adding, "It was a dangerous mission on the ground."
Wallace asked a third time, “Why didn’t the president notify the speaker of the House?”
Pence stuck to his claim that Trump was focused solely on killing Baghdadi.
“I just want to emphasize the president's focus here, throughout, particularly, the last several days, was on the mission to bring a man who was the most wanted man in the world, a man who had brought unspeakable violence through the ISIS caliphate, who was exporting violence throughout the world, to justice,” said Pence.
Trump noted during his press conference that he had discussed the results of the raid with some Senate Republicans, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
