(MENAFN- Gulf Times) President Donald Trump yesterday attacked The New York Times and its 'sick agenda, alleging that one of the paper's reports thwarted a US bid to take out Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
'The Failing New York Times foiled US attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist, Al-Baghdadi.
Their sick agenda over National Security, Trump wrote in one of a barrage of early morning tweets.
Trump did not expand on his charge against The Times, or explain what revelation by the daily is supposed to have hampered Baghdadi's capture.
The New York Times told the Politico news site in a statement: 'We have asked the White House to clarify the tweet.
US media suggested that Trump may have been referring to a Fox News report about comments made by a top general at a security conference on Friday in Aspen, Colorado.
At that gathering, General Tony Thomas — head of the US military's Special Operations Command — reportedly said that American forces at one point came 'particularly close to Baghdadi after a 2015 raid recovered information about the Islamic State group.
Fox News reported that Thomas said US troops had 'a very good lead, on the IS leader's whereabouts. 'Unfortunately, it was leaked in a prominent national newspaper about a week later and that lead went dead, Thomas reportedly said at the forum.
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Friday that he believes Baghdadi is still alive, following various claims in recent months that he has been killed.
'We are going after him, but we assume he is alive, the Pentagon chief said. There have been persistent rumours that Baghdadi has died in recent months.
With a $25mn US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile but is rumoured to move regularly throughout IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria.
The Iraqi — nicknamed The Ghost — has not been seen since making his only known public appearance as 'caliph in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul, which was destroyed in the battle for Iraq's second city.
The Times has become a favourite Trump target despite his penchant for reaching out to the daily, including this week, when he gave its reporters a major interview in which he criticised his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
In yesterday's tweet storm, Trump railed against The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for its 'illegal leaks.
'A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A G Jeff Sessions, he wrote on Twitter, adding 'These illegal leaks...must stop!
He also groused about some of his favourite targets: the failure of US lawmakers to repeal 'dead Obamacare, Democratic 'obstructionists and alleged 'ties to Russia by Hillary Clinton, his defeated opponent in last year's presidential election.
US President Donald Trump took to Twitter yesterday to complain about the special counsel investigating possible ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia while insisting that he, as president, has 'complete power to pardon.
Trump, who defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential election but continues to use her as a foil, questioned why his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and special counsel Robert Mueller were not investigating former FBI Director James Comey or Clinton, for her email practices as secretary of state.
'So many people are asking why isn't the A G or Special Counsel looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted..., he wrote on Twitter.
'My son Donald openly gave his e-mails to the media & the authorities whereas Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted ( & acid washed) her 33,000 e-mails!
The Federal Bureau of Investigation decided last year not to recommend criminal charges against Clinton for her email practices. Trump fired Comey in May.
Sessions had been Trump's first supporter in the Senate before being named attorney general, but recently has become a lightning rod for Trump's anger over the probe into allegations of Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Sessions recused himself from the probe in March after having failed to disclose at his confirmation hearing that he had held meetings last year with Russia's ambassador.
The US Senate Judiciary Committee said on Friday that Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort had agreed to negotiate whether to be interviewed by
the panel in its Russia investigation.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had inquired about his authority to issue pardons to aides, family members and perhaps himself as Mueller's Russia probe widens.
Trump cited his power to pardon in the series of tweets yesterday that focused ire on leaks to the news media.
'While all agree the US President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS, he wrote.
Scholars have raised questions about the scope of the president's legal authority in issuing pardons.
If sometime in the future Trump moved to pardon himself, the US Supreme Court might have to decide on the constitutionality, some have speculated.
Trump also had words for Republican senators who have not been able to agree on a way forward to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, which has become known as Obamacare and which Trump promised to do away with as president.
'The Republican Senators must step up to the plate and, after 7 years, vote to Repeal and Replace.
Next, Tax Reform and Infrastructure. WIN! he tweeted.
Trump left yesterday morning for a short trip to Norfolk, Virginia, where he will be present for the commissioning ceremony for an aircraft carrier, the Gerald R Ford, named after the former US president. Ford, who became president after Richard Nixon resigned, in 1974 pardoned Nixon for any crimes he might have committed stemming from the Watergate scandal that led to his resignation.
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