A 2012 investigative report by the Washington Post has resurfaced, indicating that Osama Bin Laden had discussed a plot to assassinate then-President Barrack Obama, enabling a “totally unprepared” Joe Biden to fill the presidency.
The report, based on declassified documents obtained during the May 2, 2011 SEAL Team 6 raid on Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, indicated Bin Laden discussed plans to shoot down a plane carrying President Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus.
“The reason for concentrating on them,” Bin Laden said in a message to an Al Qaeda lieutenant, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.”
Bin Laden added that killing Petraeus would also alter the course of the war in Afghanistan.
“Please ask brother Ilyas to send me the steps he has taken into that work,” Bin Laden wrote.
Kashmiri, the man Bin Laden sent for in the plan to assassinate Obama, was unsuccessful in the assassination plot and was reportedly killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2011, shortly after the Bin Laden raid.
According to the Washington Post, the plot to kill Obama was likely bluster as Al Qaeda lacked the weapons necessary for the plan they discussed, to take down a U.S. aircraft carrying the president.
The report regarding the talks to kill Obama and have him replaced with Biden resurfaced in a Fox News article published late Wednesday night. Biden is currently the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to face President Donald Trump in the November 2020 general elections.
Trump and other critics of Biden have increasingly criticized Biden’s mental capacity. Trump has repeatedly tweeted footage of Biden making gaffes and stumbling over words during campaign appearances.
Bin Laden’s plan show at least one of America’s enemies held skepticism of Biden’s abilities, and the Al Qaeda documents suggest they speculated on Biden’s preparedness to lead as far back as 2011.
Members of SEAL Team 6 captured troves of information held at the former Al Qaeda leader’s compound. Many documents captured in the raid have been declassified and are available through the CIA’s website.
For his part, Biden initially opposed the Bin Laden raid, exercising skepticism as to whether the Obama administration had sufficient intelligence to confirm their target.
“Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go,” Biden recalled telling Obama, The New York Times reported. “We have to do two more things to see if he’s there.'”
