Obama’s White House Photographer Suggests White House Staged Trump Situation Room Photo
Who cares that the ISIS leader is dead? The time of the photo is way more important!
The White House released a photo of President Donald Trump and his advisors watching a raid in Syria that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
President Barack Obama’s White House photographer Pete Souza suggested on social media that the White House staged the photo.
The Situation Room
President @realDonaldTrump watches as U.S. Special Operations forces close in on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. pic.twitter.com/SAgw4KxM77
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 27, 2019
— Dan Scavino Jr.?? (@Scavino45) October 27, 2019
President Trump is joined by VP Mike Pence, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, left; Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley, and Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans, Deputy Director for Special Operations…
— Dan Scavino Jr.?? (@Scavino45) October 27, 2019
…on the Joint Staff, at right, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in the Situation Room of the White House monitoring developments as U.S. Special Operations forces close in on notorious ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound in Syria with a mission to kill or capture the terrorist.
— Dan Scavino Jr.?? (@Scavino45) October 27, 2019
Souza’s Tweet
This is how Souza responded:
The raid, as reported, took place at 3:30PM Washington time. The photo, as shown in the camera IPTC data, was taken at “17:05:24”. https://t.co/XV0MFfFiTt
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019
Well, people picked up on Souza’s thinking, agreeing the photo appeared staged and did not happen during the raid.
Souza quickly backtracked, pointing out he never said “staged.” This is true, but can you blame people for jumping to that conclusion due to the wording of his tweet?
Just to be clear, I didn’t say it was staged. Trump himself said he didn’t arrive to the Situation Room until “around 5pm”. So it’s definitely possible the photo was taken during the raid. https://t.co/h3yx8BbLAT
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019
Trump’s schedule indicated he played golf at his golf club at 3:30 p.m. He arrived back in DC at 4:18 p.m.
Actual Timeline
Oh, look! The New York Times published the timeline of the raid, which actually happened after 6:00 p.m.
The latest reporting from the NYT: the helicopters left Iraq at 5PM (Washington time), and they reported it was about a 70-minute flight to Syria. So actual raid had to happen some time after 6:10PM. https://t.co/rErbPLJlpD
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019
This is from The New York Times (emphasis mine):
Mr. Trump said on Sunday that officials had gathered at the White House to monitor the raid, by Army Delta Force commandos, around 5 p.m. in Washington on Saturday. He added that American forces remained in the compound occupied by Mr. al-Baghdadi in northwestern Syria for about two hours.
By 9:23 p.m., Mr. Trump was confident enough about the outcome to hint at Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death with a tweet saying, “Something very big has just happened!” But United States officials did not confirm the ISIS leader’s killing for reporters for several more hours. Mr. Trump announced it to the world from the White House on Sunday shortly after 9 a.m.
Delta Force missions targeting so-called high value targets such as Mr. al-Baghdadi often include personnel with specialized expertise in areas ranging from intelligence collection to bomb disposal. Some are also trained in biometrics and have responsibility for helping to identify targets who are captured and killed, according to American officials familiar with the process.
To the shock of absolutely no one, Souza’s tweet about the NYT article did not receive nearly as much attention as his original tweet.
Souza’s first tweet? 18,715 retweets and 50,043 likes.
Souza’s tweet with actual information and not speculation? 778 retweets and 1,911 likes.
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Comments
I don’t need to see proof. Rejoice in a job well done and move on to the next target.
Because Obama’s Bin Laden photo was absolutely NOT STAGED!!!! Remember the conjectures of whether Obama was cut and pasted into the situation Room photo, because he’s really small compared to everyone else, and he wasn’t wearing office clothes, etc. And he looks angry.
“And he looks angry.”
Well if your round of golf was interrupted you would be angry too.
And remember the rumors of Rice having allowed the operation to start while he was out of the office, and not telling him right away so he did not get back before the strike force was already committed. That’d put him in a royal snitty mood for hours.
Just when you thought Democjrats couldn’t possibly be any more petty…
Haters gotta hate
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