Navy SEAL who says he killed bin Laden pushes back after Trump amplifies unfounded claims operation was a hoax

A former Navy SEAL famous for his involvement in the operation that killed Osama bin Laden is calling out President Trump for amplifying conspiracy theories that the death was fake.

Robert O’Neill, who has publicly said he killed bin Laden in the 2011 raid ordered by former President Obama, pushed back on Trump in a series of tweets for promoting the conspiracy theory that it was a bin Laden’s body double who was killed and not the terrorist leader.

“Very brave men said goodby to their kids to go kill Osama bin Laden. We were given the order by President Obama. It was not a body double,” O’Neill wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. 

Very brave men said goodby to their kids to go kill Osama bin Laden. We were given the order by President Obama. It was not a body double. Thank you Mr. President. Happy birthday @USNavy

— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) October 13, 2020

Trump earlier on Tuesday retweeted an account linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory that promoted the unfounded allegation that bin Laden still lives.

The account has since been suspended, but Trump on Wednesday also retweeted a video pushing baseless claims about bin Laden’s death.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

O’Neill, who is a Trump supporter, rebuffed the conspiracy theory over a series of tweets.

“Shit. I just found out that I killed Osama bin Johnson. Drinks are on me, I guess…” he wrote Tuesday.

“I know who I killed, homie. Every time,” he wrote.

Shit. I just found out that I killed Osama bin Johnson. Drinks are on me, I guess…

— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) October 14, 2020

O’Neill was a member of the SEAL Team Six that raided bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed him.

Trump has increasingly attacked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over the raid, questioning the former vice president’s leadership and instincts.

“No one has been more wrong, more often than Biden,” Trump tweeted in September. “He voted FOR the Iraq War, he supported the defense sequester that gutted our military, he opposed the mission to take out Osama bin Laden . . .”

Trump’s attacks draw on reports that Biden was hesitant over the raid, which gained traction in 2015 as Biden was considering whether to run in the 2016 presidential race. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her allies highlighted the fact that Clinton had backed Obama in ordering the strike against bin Laden while Biden, they underscored, was on the other side.