Beto O’Rourke declined to give President Trump credit for the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and suggested that Trump hurt the operation rather than helped it.
“I think it would make sense for the president to congratulate those service members and the K-9, or dog, as he refers to it,” O’Rourke said on The Daily Show Tuesday when asked whether it was proper for the president to take credit for the raid’s success.
“Someone made the case, and it’s very compelling to me, that this raid was successful in spite of or despite the president, not because of him,” the former Texas congressman said. “To turn his back on those Kurdish fighters whose intelligence and help located al Baghdadi in the first place, and made sure that we were successful, his precipitous withdrawal, it created a void that Turkey and Russia, Iran and ISIS and Assad have all come in to.”
Republicans have started to capitalize on Trump’s role in killing Baghdadi raid as 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and other Democrats downplay it.
California Sen. Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s demeanor during the press conference announcing the raid. “You would’ve think [sic] that he was talking about watching and giving commentary on a video game,” she said Monday.
“It is really a miracle that we were able to do this, but it is really owing to our allies, our friends, our partners on the ground and those brave service members who put their lives on the line to ensure that there was justice for this country,” O’Rourke said.
