Trump" rel="tag">Melania Trump took central role in al-Baghdadi killing trends now

Melania Trump played a central role during the October 2019 raid to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, joining in on the action in the White House Situation Room and suggesting Donald Trump highlight Conan, the hero military dog, played in the action.

The surprising role the first lady played is outlined in the forthcoming memoir of Trump's Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. 'Soldier Secretary' is out Tuesday and available on Amazon for pre-order. An advanced copy was obtained by DailyMail.com. 

At the time, al-Baghdadi was the world's most wanted terrorist and Miller served on the National Security Council. He was Trump's senior advisor for counterterrorism  before he moved over to lead the Pentagon.

He was in the Situation Room for the raid and, he wrote, he and other military officials were surprised when Melania Trump joined them to watch the operation play out in real time.

'Her presence was unexpected, to say the least,' Miller writes. He noted President Trump introduced her to group of military officials and advisers 'as if we didn't know who she was.'

Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper got up to give her his seat next to the president. 

It's unusual for a first lady to be in the Situation Room of the White House, a room in the basement that is heavily guarded and contains the nation's most guarded secrets. Originally established in 1961, it's where leaders gather for top secret meetings and it has the technology to show military operations from around the world live on its TV screens.

Typically, a person must have a security clearance to enter the room. It's unclear if Melania Trump did so.

However, Trump, as president, could give her permission to be there.

'The first lady has access to secrets at the discretion of POTUS, the president of the United States. And the president has enormous authority over the use and distribution of the nation's secrets,' wrote New York University historian Tim Naftali for CNN.

In fact, Jacqueline Kennedy used to receive the intelligence community's Weekly Intelligence Summary as first lady, until she requested not to in 1963, calling it too depressing to read.

The October 2019 raid to take out al-Baghdadi was named Operation Kayla Mueller after the 26-year-old humanitarian worker from Arizona who died in Syria in 2015. It's suspected that al-Baghdadi ordered her death. The ISIS leader reportedly held her hostage and named her his 'ISIS bride.'

Mueller writes of al-Baghdadi: 'He personally subjected Kayla Mueller to nonstop torture, abuse, and sexual slavery, then beat her to death.'

Kayla Mueller was abducted a day after crossing into Syria on Aug. 4, 2013. She had lived in Turkey for the previous eight months doing humanitarian work. She had crossed into Syria with a friend to head to a Doctors Without Borders compound.

Kayla's parents, Marsha and Carl Mueller were heavily critical of Barack Obama for not doing enough to rescue their daughter. Obama had authorized a raid but commandos found Kayla and the other hostages had been moved.