The leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula reportedly mocked President Donald Trump as the "White House fool" in an audio recording released Saturday following a U.S. commando raid that left more than a dozen AQAP jihadis dead.
"The White House's new fool has received a painful blow at your hands in his first outing on your land," AQAP leader Qassim al-Rimi says in the recording to his followers, according to the Associated Press.
The recording's authenticity could not be immediately verified, but the voice was similar to that of previous recordings by al-Rimi.
In the recording, in addition to taunting Trump, al-Rimi identifies all 25 purported victims of the Jan. 29 raid and claims that scores of U.S. soldiers were killed or wounded. However, the U.S. military said that only one U.S. serviceman was killed during the raid and that no civilians were killed.
The raid, conducted last last month with the approval of Trump, ended with one Navy SEAL fatally wounded. That SEAL, Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens, was laid to rest last week. Another serviceman was injured during the raid when a U.S. helicopter suffered severe damage. That helicopter was later intentionally destroyed.
Three senior AQAP leaders were killed during the raid, in addition to the scores of other jihadis.
Democratic lawmakers last week called for an investigation into the raid, which many have deemed a "botched" operation that was conducted without proper military intelligence and planning, in addition to the possibility that military intelligence was leaked.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
