President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for his failure to notify them about the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, The Washington Post reports.
Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS and self-declared Caliph, was killed in a raid on Saturday in Syria. Although the White House notified Republican leaders, including Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., of the military operation, the administration did not inform the full "Gang of Eight," which includes House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., despite protocol.
"I wanted to make sure this kept secret," Trump told reporters Sunday morning. "I don't want to have men lost — and women. I don't want to have people lost."
He added, "We were going to notify them last night but we decided not to do that because Washington leaks like I've never seen before. There's a very small group of people that knew about this … A leak could have cost the death of all of them."
Schiff told reporters that the move was a "mistake," according to the Post.
Despite not telling top Democrats about the raid, the administration did inform Russia ahead of time.
"We told the Russians we're coming in, because we had to go over them," Trump said. "They were very cooperative. They really were good. And we did say it would be a mission that they'd like, too. Because, you know, again, they hate ISIS as much as we do."
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