President Trump honors first military casualty of his presidency by meeting fallen SEAL's coffin - and takes Ivanka with him

  • The body of fallen SEAL Team 6 member Officer William Owens arrived Tuesday afternoon at Dover Air Force Base
  • President Donald Trump and daughter Ivanka flew to Delaware to mourn
  • Officials said that in the President's first strike 'almost everything went wrong'
  • White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer got emotional on Wednesday as he talked about the raid, which he admitted was not a '100% successs' 
  • Nawar al-Awlaki, 8, was among several non-combatants killed in Trump's first raid; she was the daughter of the American al Qaeda leader killed in a 2011 raid 
  • The president and Ivanka returned back to the White House Wednesday evening to attend the swearing in of Rex Tillerson as the nation's 69th Secretary of State

Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens, a 36-year-old from Illinois, was killed in Sunday's botched raid

President Donald Trump has returned back to the White House alongside his eldest daughter, Ivanka, after they met the coffin of a fallen SEAL Team Six member who was killed in a military raid.

The arrived duo back at the White House Wednesday evening and walked to the Oval Office to attend the swearing in of Rex Tillerson as the nation's 69th Secretary of State. 

The president and first daughter flew back in to the Capital after they received the body of Chief Special Warfare Officer William 'Ryan' Owens at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware earlier in the day.

For the quick trip, they were accompanied by Delaware Sen. Chris Coons at the private return ceremony that Owens' family also attended.

The 36-year-old Illinois native is survived by his wife, Karen, and their three children. 

Owens was killed in a pre-dawn raid, in which officials have said 'almost everything went wrong,' on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula last Sunday.

It was Trump's first clandestine strike, and it was not one that had previously been ordered by former President Barack Obama.

Eight-year-old Nawar al-Awlaki, known as Nora, was also among the non-combats killed in the raid, which resulted in the death of several Yemeni women.  

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President Donald Trump has returned back to the White House alongside his eldest daughter, Ivanka (above), after they mourned the death of a SEAL Team Six member killed in a military raid

The president and first daughter were photographed stepping off Marine One on Wednesday evening at the White House

The duo flew back in to the Capital after they received the body of Chief Special Warfare Officer William 'Ryan' Owens at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware earlier in the day

They arrived back at the White House Wednesday evening and walked to the Oval Office to attend the swearing in of Rex Tillerson as the nation's 69th Secretary of State

President Donald Trump is pictured with Ivanka as they departed from the White House earlier Wednesday to mourn the death of a SEAL Team Six member killed in his first military raid as president

Trump and his eldest daughter, Ivanka, arrived at Dover Air Force Base this afternoon, after making the short flight to Delaware from Washington, to receive the body of Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens

SEAL Team 6 is the US Navy's special forces team that gained worldwide fame for killing Osama bin Laden. 

Dover AFB is traditionally the arrival point for service members killed in action.

Obama's first trip to Dover was on Oct. 29, 2009, nine months into his administration. 

He received 18 American soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan. He reflected several hours later, in Oval Office remarks on the toll of war. 'It is something that I think about each and every day,' he stated.

The U.S. president was back at Dover again two years later, in 2011, to receive the remains of 30 soldiers who died in Extortion 17, a helicopter mission in Afghanistan that resulted in the most American military casualties in a single day since the beginning of the war on terror.  

The Sunday raid that resulted in the death of Owens involved 'boots on the ground' at an AQAP near al Bayda in south central Yemen, officials confirmed in a statement to NBC news

Today's journey was Ivanka's first trip on Marine One

The pair exited the Oval Office together to make the quick journey

President Trump saluted a marine as he boarded Marine One Wednesday afternoon from the South Lawn of the White House

Marine One flew with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force 

Ivanka Trump leaves her home in Washington D.C. on Wednesday lunchtime

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was visibly affected by the tragedy as he addressed it in his daily briefing with reporters before Trump's trip to Dover.

The president's spokesman admitted that the raid was not a '100 percent success.'

'I think it's hard to ever say something was successful when you lose a life,' Spicer said.

The White House official said Owens deployed 12 times 'because he loved his country and he believed in the mission.'

Spicer said that 14 AQAP members were killed and U.S. forces gained 'an unbelievable amount of intelligence' in the raid 'that will prevent potential deaths or attacks on American soil.'

'You never want to call something a success 100 percent when someone is hurt or killed and that was the case here. But I think when you recognize that an individual like this loved this country so much and deployed over and over again because he knew the mission that he was conducting was so important to our protection, our freedom, our safety.'  

She met her father at the White House and they rode together on Marine One to Dover

Ivanka has been filling in for some traditionally first lady roles with Melania in New York

The First Lady is in New York until at least June, leaving Ivanka to fill the role

Owens' wife, Karen, stressed in her conversation with the president that while it is 'an unbelievably sad and emotional time for her and her family that he loved doing this.'

'And so again, I don't think you ever call anything 100 percent success, but what he did for this nation and what we got out of that mission, I think, I truly believe and I know the president believes is going to save American lives.'  

A friend from Illinois Valley Central High School, Cody Jackson, added that Owens was doing exactly what he wanted with his life.

'Since he was a freshman in high school, this kid decided he wanted to protect his country (and) he never once wavered from that,' Jackson told the (Peoria) Journal Star. 

'Not everyone knows what they want to do in high school, but he did. He wanted to be a Navy SEAL.'

Marine One with US President Donald Trump and Ivanka on board, just before it lands at Dover Air Force Base

Ivanka's husband, Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Vice President Mike Pence watched from the Rose Garden as they left

Owens joined the Navy just after graduating from high school and went on to earn two bronze stars, Joint Service Commendation and an Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Trump, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and others praised Owens for his sacrifice.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican from Peoria, said Owens' death 'is a painful reminder of the immeasurable cost of our freedom and national security.'

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat from of East Moline, said Owens death is a 'tragic loss' and 'our nation owes him and his family our deep heartfelt gratitude.'  

The eight-year-old who was killed in the raid, Nora, was the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al Qaeda leader, born in New Mexico, who was killed in a U.S. strike Obama ordered five years ago.

Al-Awlaki was killed by a drone on September 30, 2011 after the Justice Department approved the strike in a memorandum that was not disclosed until 2014.

The memo said: 'We do not believe that al-Awlaki's US citizenship imposes constitutional limitations that would preclude the contemplated lethal action.' 

United States intelligence officiers believed that al-Awaki was a potential successor to Osama Bin Laden.   

Defense Secretary James Mattis said of Owens in a statement, 'Ryan gave his full measure for our nation, and in performing his duty, he upheld the noblest standard of military service.' 

Nora's grandfather, Nasser al-Awlaki, is Yemen's former agriculture minister. He told NBC news, 'My granddaughter was staying for a while with her mother, so when the attack came, they were sitting in the house, and a bullet struck her in the neck at 2:30 past midnight. Other children in the same house were killed.' 

He said she died two hours after being shot. 

Mr. al-Awlaki said hte SEALS 'entered another house and killed everybody in it, including all the women. They burned the house. There is an asumption there was a woman from Saudi Arabia who was with al Qaeda. All we know is that she was a children's teacher.'

Nawar al-Awlaki, also known as Nora, was among the non-combatants killed in the raid, which also resulted in the death of several Yemeni women

The girl's mother survived, NBC says, and sustained a minor wound. Al-Awlaki's brother-in-law, however, was killed in the raid.

An official told NBC that the raid was directed from a U.S. base in Djibouti. Officially, it was to search for 'information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terrorist plots'. 

After American service members landed on the ground, a two-hour gun battle ensued. Some al Qaeda fighters were women, and they were among the casualties, reported the San Diego Union Tribune

Al Qaeda has claimed that 30 civilians have died, and the Tribune reported that four other Americans were wounded in the raid and complications in the aircraft landing.

National security experts believe that the death of the girl will be used as a part of al Qaeda propaganda methods. 

Trump said in December of 2015 that he wouldn't fight a 'politically correct war' against ISIS. In a interivew on Fox & Friends, Trump said, 'The other thing with the terrorists, you have to take out their families.

'They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. But when they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families,' he said.

The Geneva Conventions, of which the United States is a signatory, bars the killing of civillians.

An eight-year-old, Nora, killed in the raid was the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki (pictured), an American al Qaeda leader, born in New Mexico, who was killed in a US strike ordered by President Obama five years ago

This was the president's first clandestine strike, and not one that was originally ordered by former President Obama. It involved 'boots on the ground' at an al Qaeda Camp near al Bayda in south central Yemen (pictured)

Trump, then a GOP candidate for president, reversed his position in March, saying in a statement, 'I will use every legal power that I have to stop these terrorist enemies.

'I do, however, understand that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters.' 

After Nora al-Awaki was killed in Sunday's raid, the White House went a step further on Tuesday and Spicer unoquicivocally stated: 'No American citizen will ever be targeted.'

One of Spicer's deputies walked back her boss' claim later that day. She said in a statement that the Trump administration would abide by the legal standard adopted by the Obama administration.

'U.S. policy regarding the possible targeting of American citizens has not changed,' Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that was reported on by Bloomberg.

Pictured: The rubble of a building destroyed by a US drone air strike that targeted suspected al Qaeda militants. The strike killed Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, son of Anwar and brother of Nora. National security experts believe that the death of the girl will be used as a part of al Qaeda propaganda methods

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