Obama and Bush Were Looped in on Zawahiri Strike By Biden Administration – But Was Trump?

Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were informed by the Biden administration of the strike on Ayman Al Zawahiri before the public — but was former President Donald Trump?

At Tuesday’s White House briefing, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to help field national security questions, many of which pertained to the airstrike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri over the prior weekend.

But one question — from Washington Post White House correspondent Tyler Pager — went unanswered:

MR. PAGER: John, just a quick question. Did the President alert former President Obama or Bush or Trump be- — after the strike, before he informed the public? President Obama did so when the U.S. killed Osama bin Laden. I’m wondering if there’s any communication between the current President and his predecessors in the last (inaudible)?

MR. KIRBY: You know, Tyler, I don’t have — I — I’d have to go back and check. I don’t know if there was outreach to former Commanders-in-Chief after the fact. There was no notifications to anybody before the act — before the strike.

As Pager noted, then-President Obama called former President Bush and described the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in detail:

Bush said he was eating souffles at a Dallas restaurant with his wife, Laura, and two friends when he got word that Obama, his successor as president, was trying to reach him.

“I excused myself and went home to take the call,” Bush said. “Obama simply said, ‘Osama bin Laden is dead.’”

After Obama described in detail the secret U.S. raid on Osama’s compound in Pakistan and the decision he made to go ahead with the mission, Bush said he told Obama: “Good call.”

Mediaite has learned that similar outreach was made by the Biden administration following the Zawahiri strike, to Presidents Obama and Bush — but not to Trump.

Asked about Pager’s unanswered question, a National Security Council spokesperson told us that “The Biden Administration spoke to Presidents Bush and Obama to notify them about the strike before it was announced publicly.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.