Shelby Talcott on October 29, 2019
President Donald Trump’s campaign tweeted Tuesday evening that television host Jimmy Kimmel should “retract & correct” his comments that the president was golfing during the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Pete Souza, the former chief official White House photographer for former President Barack Obama, spread a conspiracy theory Sunday by saying Trump wasn’t in the Situation Room when U.S. military forces raided a compound in northern Syria. Al-Baghdadi committed suicide during the raid, and the White House sent out a photo of Trump and other officials watching it all unfold from the Situation Room.
“They got him [al-Baghdadi] during a raid in Syria,” Kimmel said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Monday evening. “Now, President Trump was reportedly golfing when they went in. The raid started at 3:30 p.m. According to his schedule, Trump was playing golf at his course in northern Virginia Saturday until a little after 3. Didn’t make it back to the White House until 4:18 … ”
Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for the Trump campaign, tweeted out a photo of the actual timeline Tuesday from The Washington Post, saying Kimmel should take back his comments.
Trying for a cheap laugh, @JimmyKimmelLive last night repeated the long-disproven lie that the President was golfing during the al-Baghdadi raid – a Twitter lie pushed by Obama photographer @PeteSouza.
Real timeline was out way before Kimmel’s show. He should retract & correct. pic.twitter.com/Aa7pPlASfW
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 29, 2019
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Kimmel added that there was “no way” the military informed Trump about what day the raid would be happening, saying the president would have tweeted out the information “immediately.” His comments came after WaPo reported the correct timeline of the raid.
The conspiracy theory began when Souza insisted the White House photo was staged, saying the president wasn’t even at the White House when the raid occurred. He said the raid happened “at 3:30 pm” when Trump was golfing, and noted that the photo from the White House was taken a little after 5 p.m.
After reports contradicted his timeline, Souza corrected himself, but did not delete his original tweet.
