Video of al-Baghdadi may go public

WASHINGTON – A day after he compared watching the raid that led to the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to “watching a movie,” President Donald Trump said he may release a portion of the video of that dramatic operation to the public.

“We’re thinking about it,” Trump told reporters gathered outside Air Force One before the president flew to Chicago for a series of events. “The question was ‘am I considering releasing video footage of the raid’ and we may take certain parts of it and release it, yes.”

Trump announced Sunday that alBaghdadi was killed in a special operations raid. Al-Baghdadi led the extremist organization known as the Islamic State, or ISIS. Trump said he died after running from a house into a dead-end tunnel while being chased by U.S. commandos in northwest Syria. Al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest that killed him and three of his children, Trump said.

Trump, who said he watched most of the mission from the White House Situation Room, has sought to portray al-Baghdadi as terrified in his final moments. Trump has indicated that alBaghdadi’s death should be an example for other ISIS followers.

“He was whimpering, screaming and crying,” Trump said Sunday. “And, frankly, I think it’s something that should be brought out so that his followers and all of these young kids that want to leave various countries, including the United States, they should see how he died.”