WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Obama administration official says al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden wanted to see President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus assassinated.
But Michael Leiter (LYT’-uhr) tells NBC’s “Today” show he didn’t think that necessarily was bin Laden’s highest priority, suggesting the terrorist leader dreamed of another large-scale, 9/11-type attack on the United States.
Asked by “Today” host Matt Lauer Tuesday whether bin Laden’s aim of seeing Obama assassinated was more of a “wish-list” than a plot, Leiter agreed.
Leiter served as head of the National Counterterrorism Center during the Obama administration. He was present with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House a year ago as they monitored the U.S. operation that killed bin Laden at a Pakistan compound.
