Trump deflects responsibility on Yemen raid: 'They lost Ryan'

President Donald Trump avoided accepting responsibility Tuesday for the first American military death under his administration, unceremoniously suggesting “they lost” William “Ryan” Owens.

Owens, a 36-year-old Navy SEAL, died last month during an intelligence-gathering raid in Yemen. Multiple American service members were wounded in the raid, and more than 20 civilians, including women and children, were also killed.


The White House had framed the mission as a “very, very well thought-out and executed effort” that began in November under then-President Barack Obama’s administration. And press secretary Sean Spicer had said Trump didn’t sign off until Defense Secretary James Mattis conveyed his support for the Obama era memo.

“This was a mission that was started before I got here,” Trump told Fox News in an interview from the White House broadcast Tuesday. “This was something that was, you know, just — they wanted to do. And they came to see me. They explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected.”

Trump veered into effusive praise for his generals, calling them “the most respected that we’ve had in many decades” before pinning Owens’ death on them.

“They lost Ryan,” the president said.

Trump was inside the White House when he learned of Owens’ death. He later spoke to Owens’ wife, Carryn, with whom he had three children. And the president traveled to Dover Air Force Base to greet Owens’ remains earlier this month.

“And it was a very sad — with the family,” Trump said. “And it’s a great family. Incredible wife and children. I met most of the family.”

But he hadn’t met Owens’ father, Bill Owens, who wanted it that way and told the Miami Herald in an interview published over the weekend that the Trump administration is hiding behind his son’s death to elude an investigation. The government, he said, owes his slain son an investigation.

Trump sympathized with the father’s not wanting to speak with him. “I can understand people saying that,” he said. “I’d feel — you know, I’d feel what’s worse? There’s nothing worse. There’s nothing worse.”

Again, though, the commander in chief seemed to pass on the responsibility of Owens’ death to military officials and the Obama administration — although he added that the mission was successful.

“This was something that they were looking at for a long time doing,” he said. “And according to General Mattis, it was a very successful mission. They got tremendous amounts of information.”