President Trump said Sunday he did not believe a report that War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered that no survivors be left from a US military strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea this past September.
“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
“And I believe him.”
The Washington Post reported Friday that a Joint Special Operations Command commander ordered a second airstrike on a speedboat carrying 11 suspected Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists Sept. 2, after the first strike left two people clinging to the wreckage.
The second strike order reportedly was in response to Hegseth’s verbal command to “kill everybody” on board.
On Sunday, Trump insisted that “I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” and said the administration would “look into” the issue while defending Hegseth.
“He said he did not say that,” the president reiterated, “and I believe him, 100%.”
Hegseth himself denied the report hours after its Friday publication, writing on X: “As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
“As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’” he continued. “The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.
“Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
The Washington Post report prompted bipartisan outcry on Capitol Hill, with both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees vowing to open investigations.
“Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told the same program that he will reintroduce a resolution blocking the use of US military force in the Caribbean Sea without congressional authorization — a measure that Senate Republicans blocked Nov. 6.
“If that reporting is true,” Kaine added of Hegseth’s order, “it’s a clear violation of the DOD’s own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance. And so this rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true.”
