Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump asserted in his televised address from the White House Sunday that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was "whimpering and crying " before ultimately detonating his suicide vest in a tunnel as US commandos closed in.

Trump painted the ISIS leader as a coward, describing in great detail how he "spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him."

"He died like a dog. ...The world is now a much safer place," he added.

But top defense officials who watched the raid alongside the President in the Situation Room have demurred when asked to corroborate the President's colorful description of Baghdadi's demise, raising questions about where Trump got the information.

Asked specifically about the "whimpering" line Monday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said he did not know where the President got those details but noted Trump had planned to talk to some of the commandos who carried out the operation and assumed the information came from those conversations.

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