Father calls for SEAL death inquiry
A senior White House spokeswoman said yesterday that she thinks President Donald Trump will support an investigation into the death of a Navy SEAL during a raid on al-Qaeda last month in Yemen.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the principal White House deputy secretary, was asked on ABC News’ This Week to respond to a request by Bill Owens in a Miami Herald interview for an investigation into the death of his son, William “Ryan” Owens.
“I haven’t had the chance to speak with him directly about that, but I would imagine that he would be supportive of that,” Sanders said of the President.
The raid — billed as an intelligencegathering operation on the militant group — turned into an hour-long gunfight as Navy SEALs and troops from the United Arab Emirates clashed with well-entrenched alQaeda fighters. Owens reportedly died in the exchange of gunfire. Five other service members were wounded by hostile fire and a hard landing after a Marine transport aircraft crashed near the raid site.
In the Miami Herald interview, Bill Owens said he avoided a chance to meet with Trump when the President and his daughter Ivanka Trump came to Dover Air Force Base to pay his respects to Owens’ family.
“I’m sorry, I don’t want to see him,” Owens recalled telling the chaplain who informed him that the President was on his way from Washington, according to the Herald. “I told them I don’t want to meet the President.”
In the interview with the paper, Owens said, “The Government owes my son an investigation”.
The Defence Department routinely reviews missions that result in death.
White House officials have steadfastly defended the raid as a success, and press secretary Sean Spicer has said that anyone who said otherwise did Owens “a disservice”. Donald Trump is expected to sign a new refugee and immigration Executive Order on Thursday, a day after addressing lawmakers at a joint session of Congress, according to a senior administration official. The White House is preparing to propose boosting defence spending and slashing funding for longtime Republican targets like the Environmental Protection Agency as it prepares its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, an administration official says. Trump’s choice to be secretary of the Navy, businessman Philip Bilden, said yesterday he was withdrawing from consideration for the post, citing concerns about privacy and separating himself from his business interests. Bilden’s withdrawal raises similar issues to that of Vincent Viola, Trump’s nominee for Army secretary who stepped aside earlier this month. Explaining why Trump won’t attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump wasn’t elected “to spend his time with reporters and celebrities”.