but, look, alex, something needs to be said, the president s language, and whimpering dogs and crying, and it is just astonishing bellicose boastful language and it is unhelpful. you know, it is just astonishing to me and unpresidential conduct. he should take great pride in making decisions to allow this operation to take place, but 50 minutes he stepped all over the context of what we need to be proud of. but, general, two ways that could be interpreted by the potential isis followers. it can reduce the stature of al baghdadi, correct? it could make him look like he was a weak man at the end and not this visionary that many will held him to, but might it also incite rage from those who followed him as if there was a lack of respect shown to him,
east, and 9:00 a.m. in the west. i m alex witt, and breaking news, president trump makes a major announcement about the killing of the world s most wanted terrorist. this hour from the news to the news conference and what the president said and how he said it, and plus what lies ahead in the fight against isis after that deadly raid. all of it is coming your way next. we begin this hour with the breaking news confirmation from the president that a u.s. military operation in syria last night led to the death of abu bakr al baghdadi, the leader of isis. what you are seeing is the video of the scene today, and the site of the suspected isis safe house reduced to rubble by a u.s. air strike after these special forces operation. president trump says he watched much of the raid, and we will take a look at him in the situation room, and he provided a detailed account of how the isis leader died. last night, the united states
religious figure by those, was characterized by this president? a couple of points. when events like this happen, there s usually a sort of dip for lack of a better term, in the level of violence as the leadership of these organizations like after the death of bin laden, where they try to reorganize, reconstitute, reorder themselves structurally. we could look for a period of quiscence for a time. we can look forward in the future to something like this happening. the last point i ll make, it s important. that this raid reinforces is isis now considers themselves no longer to be a regional terrorist group but now a global terrorist group. that s really the key point that what al baghdadi was trying to do in western syria is to reconstitute his terrorist empire by striking targets in
deconfliction line, which is just to make sure you stay out of people s air space. whether or not there s going to be further calls from congress on the authorities the president used, i think, is something we should look at here. crucially, what sort of intelligence did they gather there, what sort of site exploitation? the president indicated al baghdadi died and tragically three children died, they left u.s. forces left with some detainees and they could be high value and they could help the u.s. understand and ultimately defeat isis s senior leadership a little better. certainly what congressional leaders knew and when they knew it will be the topic of discussion and inquiry for sure. hans nichols, thank you from the white house. let s go to courtney. i know you have more details on exactly what happened in that military operation. reporter: so, alex, we ve now heard not just from president trump in that address from the white house and the extensive q&a with reporters afterw
and a member of the intelligence committee. big welcome to you and couple of questions right off of the bat. what you thought when you heard about the news of the raid and the president s announcement that al baghdadi was killed and also your assessment of the candor with which the president spoke at that news conference revealing that which normally takes quite some time to come out, and usually in dribs and drabs. well, first of all, alex, acknowledge this for what it was which is a good day for america. a very bad person who committed heinous acts and murdered lots of people is no longer going to be able to do that. he is not getting up tomorrow morning with a capacity to plan and carry out those kinds of activities against our friends and ourselves. yes. so this is a good day for america. agreed. and totally full stop. so with respect to the way in which the president characterized this, i think that the more traditional approach is to not reveal the operational