Mr Trump repeated the claim he issued warnings about bin Laden before the 9/11 terror attack and accused Pakistan of harbouring the al-Qaeda leader while receiving billions of dollars in aid from the US.The President lashed out at Admiral McRaven – the veteran Navy Seal who led the operation in which bin Laden was killed – after the retired commander described Mr Trump’s attacks on the media as the “perhaps the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime”. Mr Trump dismissed the four-star officer as “a Hilary Clinton fan” and an “Obama-backer” and said: “Of course we should have captured Osama bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just before the attack on the World Trade Centre.”
He continued: “President Clinton famously missed his shot.
“We paid Pakistan billions of dollars and they never told us he was living there. Fools!”
Admiral McRaven hit back at at Mr Trump in a statement.
He said: “I did not back Hillary Clinton or anyone else.
“I am a fan of President Obama and President George W. Bush, both of whom I worked for.”
“I admire all presidents, regardless of their political party, who uphold the dignity of the office and who use that office to bring the nation together in challenging times.”
The extraordinary exchanges have sparked outrage in Pakistan where new leader Imran Khan took exception to White House claims that Pakistani authorities knew bin Laden’s location prior to his killing by US troops in the successful 2011 raid.
Mr Trump said bin Laden had been living in “a nice mansion” in Pakistan next to a military academy and “everybody in Pakistan knew he was there”.
The US President tweeted: ”And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year. Bin Laden lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $1.3 billion a year – which we don’t give them anymore, by the way. I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us.”
Mr Trump followed up his remarks on Twitter, posting: “We no longer pay Pakistan the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another.
“They were just one of many countries that take from the United States without giving anything in return. That’s ENDING!”
Mr Khan said the “record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump’s tirade against Pakistan”.
He tweeted: “Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140,000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops & reportedly $1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before.”
“No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror.
“Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $123bn was lost to economy. US “aid” was a miniscule $20bn.”
Mr Khan also pointed out Pakistan continued to provide its roads and air space for the re-supply for more than 10,000 US troops based in Afghanistan.
He said: ”Can Mr Trump name another ally that gave such sacrifices?”