White House says admiral ordered follow-up strike on alleged drug boat, insists attack was lawful

Enlarge

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification for the Sept. 2 strike after lawmakers from both parties on Sunday announced support for congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The lawmakers cited a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat in that September incident.

Leavitt in her comments to reporters did not dispute a Washington Post report that there were survivors after the initial strike in the incident. Her explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said that he “wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” when asked about the incident.

“Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” said Leavitt, referring to U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley, who at the time was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command. “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.”

The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Post report was true, and some Republicans were skeptical. Still, they said the reports of attacking survivors of an initial missile strike posed serious legal concerns and merited further scrutiny.

The White House weighed in after Trump on Sunday vigorously defended Hegseth.

“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump said. He added, “And I believe him.”

Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke over the weekend with the four bipartisan lawmakers leading the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. He reiterated “his trust and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon,” Caine’s office said in a statement.

The statement added that the call focused on “addressing the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday broadly defended the operations, echoing the Trump administration position that they’re necessary to stem the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.

Thune said the committees in Congress will conduct oversight looking into what happened. “I don’t think you want to draw any conclusions or deductions until you have all the facts,” he said of the Sept. 2 strike. “We’ll see where they lead.”

After the Post’s report, Hegseth said Friday on X that “fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.”

“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,” Hegseth wrote.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Hegseth a “national embarrassment” over his response to critics. Schumer added that the armed services committees should demand that Hegseth release the video of the strike and testify under oath about what happened.

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the panel’s inquiry would start “with briefings about what actually happened” from the officials involved.

Reed also called for the administration to release unredacted video of the strike.

“If they’ve done nothing wrong, then that video should exonerate them completely. Why don’t they release it?” he asked.

Sen. Roger Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pledged that his investigation would be “done by the numbers.”

“We’ll find out the ground truth,” he said, adding that the ramifications of the report were “serious charges.”

Trump met later Monday with his national security team to discuss the ongoing operations and potential next steps against Venezuela.

The U.S. administration says the strikes are aimed at drug cartels, some of which it claims are controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump also is weighing whether to carry out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland.

Trump confirmed Sunday that he had recently spoken by phone with Maduro but declined to detail the conversation.

Speaking to supporters in Caracas on Monday, Maduro said U.S. pressure has “tested” the country, but Venezuelans are ready “to defend it and lead it to the path of peace.”

“We have lived through 22 weeks of aggression that can only be described as psychological terrorism,” Maduro said.

The September strike was one in a series carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean as Trump has ordered the buildup of a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including the largest U.S. aircraft carrier.

More than 80 have been killed the strikes on small boats that the Trump administration alleges smuggle narcotics for drug cartels.

Venezuela’s National Assembly has announced the launch of an investigation into the lethal strikes carried about by the U.S.

Sunday’s announcement by the Assembly’s president, Jorge Rodríguez, marked the first time that a Maduro government official explicitly acknowledged that Venezuelans have been killed in the monthslong U.S. military operation.

Rodríguez, Maduro’s chief negotiator, said a group of lawmakers will come together to investigate “the serious events that led to the murder of Venezuelans in the waters of the Caribbean Sea.”

___

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Lisa Mascaro and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.