Trump allies dismiss reported attacks on Venezuelan boat strike survivors
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at a press conference at the Dominican National Palace in Santo Domingo on Nov. 26. Photo: Felix Leon / AFP via Getty Images
Trump allies Sunday pushed back on a Washington Post report that alleges Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered additional strikes on survivors of attacks on suspected drug trafficking boats from Venezuela.
Why it matters: Legal experts have warned that the attacks could be illegal as the Trump administration ramps up its military presence around Venezuela, placing pressure on President Nicolás Maduro.
Catch up quick: The Washington Post reported Friday that Hegseth in September ordered a second strike to kill any survivors of a boat hit off the coast of Venezuela.
- Hegseth on X dismissed the reporting as "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory."
- CNN also reported on the alleged order Saturday.
What they're saying: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) dismissed the reporting as anonymous and unproven on CNN's State of the Union. "I don't know if I believe that at all," he said.
- Mullin said the Navy and Coast Guard have rescued and returned survivors from other strikes.
- President Trump is "protecting the Unites States by being proactive," Mullin said.
- "I don't think [Hegseth] would be foolish enough to make this decision to say, 'Kill everybody. Kill the survivors.' Because that's a clear violation of the law of war," Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retired Air Force general, said on ABC's This Week. "I'm very suspicious that he would have done something like that because it would go against common sense."
Yes, but: "If the facts go where the Washington Post article takes it, well then we'll have to go from there. If it was as if the article said, that is a violation of the article of war," Bacon said.
Zoom out: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) issued a joint statement Saturday vowing "rigorous oversight" of the military strikes in the Caribbean.
- "We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question," they said.
- A congressional briefing on the strikes around the time of Hegseth's alleged order was abruptly canceled.
- The admiral overseeing the South American and Caribbean region stepped down in October.
Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to discuss releasing an Office of Legal Council memo that provides legal justification for the attacks when asked about it on Fox News Sunday.
- But she did say, "Venezuela drug dealers need to tread very, very carefully."
Friction point: When asked, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former Navy captain, said a second strike on survivors "seems to" be a war crime if the reports are accurate.
- "I've got serious concerns about anybody in that chain of command stepping over a line they should never step over," he said on CNN's State of the Union. "We're not Russia. We're not Iraq. We hold ourselves to a very high standard of professionalism."
- Kelly was one of six Democratic veterans who recorded a video reminding service members they should not follow illegal orders.
- The military is investigating Kelly for his participation in that video.
- "I'm not backing down. They don't scare me," Kelly said.
Worthy of your time: The Defense Department's Law of War Manual uses shooting shipwrecked survivors as an example of a clearly illegal order that service members are obligated to refuse.
- "For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal," the manual says on page 1117.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Rep. Don Bacon and additional information from the Defense Department Law of War Manual.
