President Donald Trump on Sunday stepped in to defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the Washington Post reported Friday that he ordered a second strike to kill the survivors of a U.S. military strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.
According to the Post, Hegseth gave orders to “kill everybody” on a small craft identified as a drug transport vessel. The boat, struck on September 2 by a missile fired from Trinidad, was destroyed, but two crew members survived the initial attack and were seen clinging to the wreckage in aerial surveillance footage. The special operations commander responsible for the attack then ordered a second strike to kill the survivors.
The report has provoked significant controversy over the legality of the Trump administration’s policy of conducting airstrikes on drug boats, and led to accusations that Hegseth violated the laws of war by ordering an attack on incapacitated targets. In response, Hegseth called the report “fake news” and said that “our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.”
Asked by reporters about the incident, Trump backed his secretary of defense. “I don’t know anything about it. He said he did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent.” The president added that he wouldn’t have ordered the second strike, but that he believed the question was irrelevant. “The first strike was very lethal, it was fine, and if there were two people around… But Pete said that didn’t happen,” he said. “I have great confidence in him.”
Asked Monday by reporters whether the administration denies that the second strike happened at all or if the administration denies that Hegseth gave the order, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the latter is true.” Leavitt then read a statement that defended the legality of the controversial boat attack while confirming that Hegseth had authorized the officer in charge to carry it out:
President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.
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