--- title: Donald Trump: New York Times Foiled Plot to Kill ISIS Leader description: Trump spent Saturday morning posting a series of tweets from healthcare to the New York Times foiling an attempt to kill a member of ISIS canonical: https://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-22T15:28:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:41:02.106Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Accuses New York Times of Foiling Attempt to Kill ISIS Leader og:description: It is unclear what New York Times report Trump was referencing og:url: https://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt051dc9032aa2a12f/6988d6c90b72e310a76eebff/gettyimages-6930897681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: donald-trump-nyt-tweet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Accuses New York Times of Foiling Attempt to Kill ISIS Leader twitter:description: It is unclear what New York Times report Trump was referencing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt051dc9032aa2a12f/6988d6c90b72e310a76eebff/gettyimages-6930897681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Accuses _New York Times_ of Foiling Attempt to Kill ISIS Leader > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Jul 22, 2017 3:28 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, June 6, 2017\. Trump is bringing lawmakers to the White House in hopes of kick-starting his legislative agenda while Washington focuses on the latest twists and turns in the Russia investigation. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, June 6, 2017\. Trump is bringing lawmakers to the White House in hopes of kick-starting his legislative agenda while Washington focuses on the latest twists and turns in the Russia investigation.Photograph by Olivier Doulier—Getty/Pool via Bloomberg by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Jul 22, 2017 3:28 PM UTC President Donald Trump spent his Saturday morning posting a series of tweets ranging from healthcare to the New York _Times_ possibly foiling an attempt to kill a member of ISIS. The President said the newspaper has a “sick agenda” and referenced ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been suspected to be dead for months. “The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist, —Al-Baghdadi.Their sick agenda over National Security,” Trump tweeted. On Friday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also casted doubt on al-Baghdadi’s death, saying that he believes the terror leader is still alive, [The Hill reported.](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/343263-trump-attacks-ny-times-for-sick-agenda-on-national-security) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/888711488717934592) “I think Baghdadi’s alive,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, according to The Hill. “Until I see his body, I am going to assume he is alive.” It is unclear what story or report Trump was referring to. TIME has reached out to the _Times_ for a comment, but did not receive an immediate response. Politico reporter Hadas Gold tweeted that the _Times_ has asked the White House to clarify the tweet. > [](https://twitter.com/Hadas%5FGold/status/888751841403707392) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Accuses New York Times of Foiling Attempt to Kill ISIS Leader","datePublished":"2017-07-22T15:28:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:41:02.106Z","description":"It is unclear what New York Times report Trump was referencing","url":"https://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt051dc9032aa2a12f/6988d6c90b72e310a76eebff/gettyimages-6930897681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt051dc9032aa2a12f/6988d6c90b72e310a76eebff/gettyimages-6930897681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald-trump-nyt-tweet","caption":"President Trump Meets With Senate And House Leadership At The White House","creditText":"Photograph by Olivier Doulier—Getty/Pool via Bloomberg","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/","name":"Donald Trump Accuses New York Times of Foiling Attempt to Kill ISIS Leader"}}]}] ```