Washington — Navy officers confirmed lawmakers video of a second strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat behind closed doorways on Capitol Hill on Thursday, and testified that there was no order from Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth to depart no survivors of the assault, a number of lawmakers mentioned.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, and Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, head of Particular Operations Command, briefed the leaders of the Armed Companies and Intelligence Committees for each the Home and the Senate. The categorised briefings centered on the Trump administration’s marketing campaign towards alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of South America, together with the Sept. 2 follow-on strike that has develop into a flashpoint in Congress.
The Pentagon has been below hearth because the Washington Publish reported {that a} second missile killed two survivors of the preliminary strike. Hegseth has mentioned the choice to strike the boat once more was made by Bradley, who was main the mission. The survivors had been making an attempt to climb again onto the boat earlier than it was hit a second time, a supply aware of the matter informed CBS Information on Wednesday.
Navy Adm. Frank Bradley, accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Air Pressure Gen. Dan Caine, arrives for a closed door categorised assembly with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Dec. 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harnik / Getty Pictures
GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Jim Himes, the highest Democrat on the Home Intelligence Committee, spoke with reporters after the briefings. They each mentioned Bradley informed them that he had not been ordered to depart no survivors. The preliminary Publish report quoted an nameless supply as saying that, earlier than the primary strike, Hegseth verbally ordered that everybody on the boat be taken out. “The order was to kill all people,” the Publish’s story quoted the supply as saying. Hegseth has denied the Publish’s account.
The lawmakers additionally mentioned they had been proven the video of the second assault, which has not been made public. Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, informed reporters after the briefing that “what I noticed in that room probably the most troubling issues I’ve seen in my time in public service.”
“You could have two people in clear misery with none technique of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who’re killed by the USA,” Himes mentioned.
“Any American who sees the video that I noticed will see the USA navy attacking shipwrecked sailors — dangerous guys, dangerous guys — however attacking shipwrecked sailors,” Himes added. “Now there’s an entire set of contextual gadgets that the admiral defined — sure, they had been carrying medication. They weren’t within the place to proceed their mission in any approach. Individuals will sometime see this video, and they’ll see that that video exhibits, if you do not have the broader context, an assault on shipwrecked sailors.”
President Trump mentioned Wednesday that he would assist releasing the footage.
Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, refuted Himes’ characterization of the video after his briefing, saying he “did not see something disturbing about it.”
Cotton mentioned the 4 strikes on Sept. 2 had been “completely lawful and needful, they usually had been precisely what we would count on our navy commanders to do.”
“I noticed two survivors making an attempt to flip a ship loaded with medication sure for the USA again over so they may keep within the battle, and probably, given all of the context we have heard of different narco-terrorist boats within the space coming to their assist to get better the cargo and get better these narco-terrorists,” Cotton mentioned.
The strike has sparked bipartisan concern from lawmakers and vows to research. Although the administration has argued the follow-on strike was authorized and justified, members of Congress and specialists have questioned its legality, with accusations from some Democrats that it could represent a conflict crime if the second strike focused survivors.
The strike was the primary of the administration’s marketing campaign towards alleged drug traffickers within the Southern Hemisphere, which has now grown to greater than 20 strikes and killed greater than 80 folks. The assaults attracted scrutiny from lawmakers even earlier than the Publish’s report, because the administration is conducting them with out authorization from Congress. The administration has argued it has the authorized authority to conduct the strikes as a result of it has designated drug cartels as terrorist organizations and U.S. troops aren’t in hurt’s approach.
Alan He and
Eleanor Watson
contributed to this report.