Trump Visits Air Base for Return of Commando Killed During Raid
- White House allows no coverage of event at family’s request
- President faces grim duty on only his 13th day in office
President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka walk out of the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Feb. 1, 2017.
Photographer: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
President Donald Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday to meet the remains of a U.S. service member killed during a special forces raid in Yemen on Sunday, fulfilling a sober duty of the presidency on his 13th day in office.
Chief Petty Officer William Owens died in the first counter-terrorism operation Trump approved as president, a raid on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula carried out by the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 that left other U.S. commandos wounded and killed 14 militants, according to the Pentagon. Owens is the first U.S. combat casualty since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.