Trump says he may release video of al-Baghdadi raid

President Trump said Monday that he is considering releasing portions of the video of the U.S. military raid that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi over the weekend.

“We’re thinking about it. We may,” Trump told reporters Monday when asked about the prospect of releasing the footage at Andrews Air Force Base. “We may take certain parts of it and release it, yes.”

{mosads}Trump described the raid in northwest Syria in great detail when announcing al-Baghdadi’s death in an address on Sunday morning. Trump said he watched much of the raid in the Situation Room, likening it to “watching a movie.”

“We had a great weekend for our country. We captured a man that should have been caught a long time ago,” Trump told reporters Monday before departing for a speech in Chicago.

“It was an amazing display of intelligence and military power and coordination, getting along with people,” Trump continued.

Trump described the successful raid in a Sunday morning address from the East Room of the White House, saying that U.S. special operations forces trapped al-Baghdadi in a tunnel during the raid. Al-Baghdadi ultimately detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and three of his children, Trump said. The president said Baghdadi died while “whimpering and screaming” and that a test conducted on-site later confirmed the terrorist leader’s identity.

“Test results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification,” Trump said Sunday.

Trump also said the raid spanned two hours and concluded with U.S. forces taking “highly sensitive material” related to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The White House later released a photograph of Trump in the Situation Room alongside Vice President Pence, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other military leaders monitoring the developments on Saturday.