Best of The Axe Files: Admiral William McRaven
The Axe Files with David Axelrod
CNN
4.6 • 7.7K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2020
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In honor of Memorial Day we revisit our September 2019 conversation with Admiral William McRaven, retired U.S. Navy SEAL who served as the commander of U.S. Special Operations from 2011 to 2014. He joins David to talk about his decision to serve in the military, his assessment of the Trump administration, and his most memorable missions — including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Music |
| 0:06.0 | And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axfiles, with |
| 0:12.5 | your host, David Axelrod. |
| 0:19.8 | It's Memorial Day and I thought the perfect time to reissue one of my favorite Axfiles |
| 0:24.6 | conversations. |
| 0:25.6 | This one with Admiral Bill McRaven, the former commander of the United States Special |
| 0:29.7 | Operations Command, in that role he was the mastermind behind the operation that took |
| 0:35.8 | down Osama bin Laden and the one that saved Captain Phillips. |
| 0:40.0 | But that's just part of a very distinguished 37 years in the military he went on to become |
| 0:45.8 | the chancellor of the University of Texas system and has been unsparing in his commentary |
| 0:52.9 | about our current commander-in-chief and some of his policies as they relate to the world |
| 0:57.8 | and the military. |
| 0:58.8 | Here's that conversation. |
| 1:08.1 | So good to see you. |
| 1:09.1 | It's going to be great. |
| 1:10.1 | I have very strong recollections of my conversations with President Obama about the service that |
| 1:16.2 | you performed for the country when he was president and he was effusive about that. |
| 1:24.3 | So it's really great to sit with you and it's great to sit with you because this is a |
| 1:27.5 | podcast that really is about people's stories and your story is you could not make it up. |
| 1:35.2 | It is so remarkable. |
| 1:38.7 | And much of it took place right here in Texas. |
| 1:40.5 | We're in Austin, Texas right now. |
... |
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