‘Got to take credit’: Trump says he warned about Osama bin Laden a year before 9/11; claims it was ignored

US President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that he foresaw Osama bin Laden as a threat to America before the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, saying he had written about the al-Qaeda leader in one of his books.Speaking before a gathering of Navy personnel in Norfolk, Virginia, during the Navy’s 250th anniversary celebrations, Trump said: “And history will never forget that it was the SEALs who stormed the compound at Osama bin Laden and put a bullet in his head, remember that?” He went on to recall that he had written about bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks, claiming credit for his foresight. “And please remember I wrote about Osama bin Lady exactly one year… before he blew up the World Trade Center. And I said, ‘You gotta watch Osama bin Laden.’ And the fake news would never let me get away with that statement unless it was true. But I said, ‘One year before,’ to Pete Hegseth. I said, ‘One year before,’ where’s Pete?” Trump asked while looking at the crowd.According to CNN, the US president’s book was titled “The America We Deserve” and was published in January 2000 in which Osama was mentioned.The MAGA leader continued: “But in the book, whatever the hell the title, I can’t tell ya, but I can tell you there’s a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama Bin Laden and I didn’t like it and you have to take care of him. They didn’t do it. A year later, he blew up the World Trade Center. So, we’re gonna take a little credit, because nobody else is going to give it to me. You know the old story, if they don’t give you credit, just take it yourself.”Trump has repeated such claims before, including after announcing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death. At the time, he said he had warned of bin Laden in his “very successful” book, CNN reported.“I said, ‘You have to kill him. You have to take him out.’ Nobody listened to me. Let’s put it this way: if they would have listened to me, a lot of things would have been different,” he said.Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during a covert raid by US Navy SEALs. The operation, known as Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by then US President Barack Obama.