Dems claim Trump officials withheld critical info in classified briefings
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Sen. Mark Kelly speaks at a Capitol news conference on Dec. 1. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Key Senate Democrats told Axios that the Trump administration did not inform lawmakers of a second strike against survivors of attacks on suspected drug trafficking boats from Venezuela.
Why it matters: Claiming they were blindsided by reports of a second strike, Senate Democrats are demanding a thorough congressional investigation and calling on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign.
- Four Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee told Axios on Tuesday that administration officials who briefed lawmakers did not mention a second strike on one of the boats.
- The Washington Post reported last week that Hegseth in September ordered that no survivors be left following a boat strike off the coast of Venezuela.
- The White House said Monday that U.S. Special Operations Command head Adm. Frank Bradley, and not Hegseth, directed a September strike on a suspected drug boat near Venezuela to ensure that it was "destroyed."
Zoom in: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told Axios on Tuesday that administration officials "certainly didn't tell us" there were survivors who were hit with a second strike.
- "I don't remember them sharing those details that [White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt] shared at the podium," Kelly said.
- Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) told Axios that "we have not seen the videos, we have not been briefed on any of that." Rosen said Hegseth "needs to resign."
- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), an Armed Services Committee member who is also the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations panel, said she didn't know about a second strike "until it was reported."
Zoom out: Lawmakers have battled with the White House for months about the administration's sharing of information about military activities — with Democrats complaining they've been iced out.
- "The DoD owes the entire committee, the House and the Senate answers to this," Kelly said. "This is a serious situation."
- Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top lawmakers on the Armed Services panel, will meet with Bradley this week and have publicly pledged to investigate the situation.
- Rosen said it was "her understanding, per Jack Reed, that we will be having an investigation ... so that means that we have the subpoena power to call people there."
