Maddow Suggests Travel Ban Tied to Navy SEAL’s Death

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow suggested Monday evening President Donald Trump’s initial travel ban executive order issued Jan. 27 had something to do with the death of a NAVY Seal during an anti-terror raid in Yemen.

Maddow drew the dubious connection the same day the president issued his revised travel ban, which bars citizens of six Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S. Yemen is one of the nations included in the ban.

“One day, we tell Yemen, ‘Nobody from your country can come to our country,’ and the next day we launch an on-the-ground raid in Yemen.”

Referring to an article published in the Miami Herald Feb. 26 in which Bill Owens, the father of slain Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, questioned the initial travel ban’s timing in conjunction with his son’s death in the Yemen raid, Maddow said it is a “great question.”

“But you know, there was something else that Bill Owens said at the end of that Miami Herald write-up that has really stuck with me, and it didn’t get nearly as much attention, but it feels especially important today,” Maddow said, before launching into a discussion of what she referred to as Trump’s “Muslim ban.”

“When Donald Trump signed his Muslim ban the first time … that order singled out seven majority Muslim nations and banned travel to the United States by anyone from any one of those seven countries,” Maddow continued. “And one of those seven countries was Yemen. That was on Friday. And the very next day, on Saturday, the U.S. launched what turned out to be this disastrous American raid in Yemen. A large number of civilians were killed, including at least one child. Four Navy SEALs were wounded. Ryan Owens was killed.”

[lz_jwplayer video=zvDIMmla]

Maddow pointed to a section of the Miami Herald article which said, “One aspect of the chain of events that nags at [Bill Owens] is the fact that the president signed the order suspending the entry of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on Jan. 27 — the day before the mission. Owens wonders whether that affected friendly forces in Yemen who were assisting with the raid.”

The liberal MSNBC host wondered the same thing.

“Great question,” Maddow said. “One day, we tell Yemen, ‘Nobody from your country can come to our country,’ and the next day we launch an on-the-ground raid in Yemen.”

“We don’t know whether that decision had any effect on the raid, but you can see why Ryan Owens’ father is wondering if it did,” Maddow added. “Now the Trump administration has issued the new version of their Muslim ban” — a ban of which Maddow clearly disapproves.

Ever since Trump launched the first travel ban executive order, liberals in the media have sought to paint the action as anti-Muslim — even though the original ban excluded over 40 other Muslim-majority countries.

[lz_related_box id=”357696″]

When Trump delivered his fist major speech before a joint session of Congress Feb. 28, he honored Ryan Owens’ wife, Carryn, who was in attendance. During an emotional moment, Carryn received over two minutes of standing ovation from the crowd. Even liberal CNN contributor Van Jones — a vocal Trump critic — was moved by the moment, saying, “He became president of the United States in that moment. Period.”

“There are a lot of people who have a lot of reasons to be frustrated with [Trump], to be mad at him. But that was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics. Period,” Jones added.