Pete Souza, the White House photographer for Presidents Obama and Reagan, pointed out that the time stamp on a photo released by the White House of Trump in the Situation Room with a group of aides and military officials monitoring the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's compound did not match up with the reported time of the raid. This prompted users on social media to suggest the photo was “staged”, a word which immediately began trending. Trump was also reported to be golfing at the time of the raid.
Trump aide Dan Scavino tweeted: “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……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.”
Newsweek adds: “In response to another now-deleted tweet, Souza continued acknowledging, that at the very least, it is possible the raid was still ongoing when Trump was photographed Saturday. “It's entirely possible that the raid was still going on at 5:05 p.m. Before drawing definite conclusions about the photo, reporters need to nail down the actual timeline of the raid.” Daily Kos Trending News Manager Jennifer Hayden remarked that a Trump golf outing tracker showed the president was golfing at 3:33 p.m. Washington time, as the raid was happening.”
