House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's complaints that President Donald Trump notified Russia before congressional leaders about the raid that resulted in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are "plain baloney" and she should know better, ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday.
"The idea that politicians need to be briefed on a military operation while young men and women are risking their lives is just stupid," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"The fact is, I would always prefer that we had the minimum number of people in the knowledge, and then we went ahead and got the deal done."
Gingrich recalled that when he was speaker, there was at one point a "very, very complicated raid" into Pakistan, and he learned about it when it was over.
"The next day, she has every right to say tell me about it," said Gingrich. "She has every right to get briefed after it is over. No politician has a right to know information which could get young men and women killed during the operational phase."
The action against al-Baghdadi resulted in a major setback to ISIS, but it did not cost a single American life, he also pointed out.
"We deconflicted with Iraq, Syria, and Russia," said Gingrich. "We were able to go over the air spaces and we did what we set out to do."
But even with the death of al-Baghdadi, terrorist violence will not go away, as there are still substantial activities in places like Brussels and Paris, said Gingrich.
"The Kurds frankly will defend themselves as long as the Turks don't go crazy," said Gingrich.
Gingrich also condemned The Washington Post for its headline, which has since been removed, calling al-Baghdadi an "austere religious scholar."
"Whoever wrote it I assume is radically pro-Islam and didn't want to tell the truth," said Gingrich. "This is like describing Adolf Hitler as a former frustrated painter."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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