Retired Adm. William McRaven, the Navy SEAL who led the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, doubled down today on his criticism of President Trump’s treatment of the press after Trump went after McRaven in an interview on Fox News.
Trump dismissed McRaven as a “Hillary Clinton fan” and an “Obama-backer,” and suggested the U.S. took too long to hunt down bin Laden after anchor Chris Wallace noted that the retired admiral has called the president’s rhetoric toward the media “the greatest threat to democracy in his lifetime.”
McRaven did not make an endorsement in the 2016 election, and he worked under both President George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
McRaven said in a statement that he stands by his comments.
“I stand by my comment that the President’s attack on the media is the greatest threat to our democracy in my lifetime,” he said. “When you undermine the people’s right to a free press and freedom of speech and expression, then you threaten the Constitution and all for which it stands.”
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said today Trump’s attacks against McRaven were “disgusting.”
“I’d use one word. And that’s ‘disgusting,'” Hertling said when asked about his reaction to Trump’s criticism of McRaven. “You know everyone knows Bill McRaven as being the guy that led the bin Laden raid. I know him as the guy as the joint special operations commander in Iraq, and there were multiple missions where this guy placed himself in danger, led soldiers in some of the most challenging situations you can imagine.”
Hertling, who served with McRaven in Europe and Iraq, added that to have someone “that holds an office that’s supposed to represent all people and who says he supports the military, to just dismiss this great American hero as a guy who was a Hillary Clinton lover, which is patently not true, is just really disgusting.”
Trump seemed to dismiss all the heroes who brought bin Laden to justice in the 2011 raid.
“They took him down but — look, look, there’s news right there, he lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $1.3 billion a year, which we don’t give them anymore, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us,” Trump said.
Trump routinely derides negative press coverage as “fake news” and has referred to members of the media as the “enemy of the people.”
The retired admiral previously criticized the Trump administration over its decision to rescind former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
McRaven praised Brennan’s integrity and professionalism, and said it would be “an honor” for the Trump White House to revoke his security clearance as well.
“If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken,” McRaven wrote in August. “The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be.”