Congress scrutinizes boat strikes

Update, Thursday, 4:20 p.m.:

Republican lawmakers leaving a Thursday closed-door briefing with Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley in the Capitol expressed continued support for the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to curb drug smuggling from Venezuela. They said they were told in the briefing that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not issue a “kill all” order to eliminate survivors of a Sept. 2 strike on boats that the administration says was ferrying drugs for the Tren de Aragua cartel.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees were shown video footage of the Sept. 2 strikes. All told, the U.S. military launched four missiles in the incident. Cotton told reporters that he saw two survivors attempt to flip over the sinking boat in an attempt to continue the mission to smuggle drugs into the country. He called the decision to strike again “righteous.”

“What’s gratifying to me is that the president has made the decision, finally, after decades of letting it happen, that we’re going to take the battle to them, and we’re going to continue to strike these boats until cartels learn their lesson that their drugs are no longer coming to America,” Cotton told reporters.

Democrats left the hearing with more concerns.

“I think it’d be hard to watch this series of videos and not be troubled by it,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said. “I have more policy questions than ever about the framing of the mission, the rules of engagement.”

Coons said he was reassured by the process and intelligence used in the operation but remained concerned about the overall mission and whether it justified lethal strikes.

Original story, Wednesday, Dec. 3:

WASHINGTON—Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have twice brought a resolution to the Senate floor to block President Donald Trump from using military force to destroy suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. It has failed both times. But after a media report claimed that the Defense Department conducted a second strike on a shipwreck to kill survivors, the lawmakers think the third time may be the charm.

“The ongoing pace of strikes in international waters, the recent revelations that the administration even struck survivors who survived a first strike on Sept. 2, killing them in clear violation of Department of Defense rules about war and international humanitarian norms, should really frighten everyone,” Kaine said in a video posted to social media on Tuesday.

On Friday, The Washington Post quoted anonymous sources who said that Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” when he authorized a strike on a suspected drug boat on Sept. 2. But there were two survivors clinging to the wreckage when military officials launched a second strike, killing them. The boat was hit a total of four times, according to the Post. In follow-up coverage from The New York Times, other sources claimed Hegseth did not directly order the second or subsequent strikes.

At a Monday news conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley had authorized the second strike. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a briefing the next day that the action was legal, adding that military and civilian lawyers up the chain of command agreed.

“The decision to restrike the narcoterrorist vessel was made by Adm. Bradley, operating under clear and long-standing authorities to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States was eliminated,” Wilson said in the Tuesday Pentagon briefing. “At the end of the day, the secretary and the president are the ones directing these strikes, and any follow-on strikes like those, which were directed by Admiral Bradley, the secretary 100% agrees with.”

But lawmakers aren’t so sure. According to the Pentagon’s own war manual, members of the military should refuse to comply with unlawful orders. Among the examples it cites: “Orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal. Similarly, orders to kill defenseless persons who have submitted to and are under effective physical control would also be clearly illegal.”

During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Hegseth clarified what he said was his role in the incident. Hegseth said he gave the initial airstrike order and then left the room to attend other meetings at the Pentagon. He suggested the entire operation took a couple of hours and that only later did he learn about a second strike ordered by Bradley.

“Which he had the complete authority to do,” Hegseth said. “And by the way, Adm. Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”

While the White House defends the strikes, Bradley will head to Capitol Hill on Thursday for a joint closed-door briefing with the House and Senate Armed Services committees. Since the Washington Post report, both committees, which are led by Republicans, have said they will investigate the matter.

“The Committee is aware of recent news reports—and the Department of Defense’s initial response—regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a joint statement. “The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”

House Armed Services chairs Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., likewise released a joint statement, saying they were “taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.”

Most Republicans still stand by the administration’s position. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that the strikes fall under the president’s authority as commander in chief.

“I support the president, and I trust Secretary Hegseth,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told me.

President Trump has designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorized military force to prevent them from smuggling drugs, mainly fentanyl, into the country. “All I know is this, every boat you see get blown up, we save 25,000 lives,” Trump claimed in the Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Tensions with Venezuela have ramped up since that initial Sept. 2 strike. Trump posted a grainy video of what he said was the Tren de Aragua boat that was struck. But the White House has not provided details for how military officials know the operators were members of the cartel or that they were smuggling drugs. According to the Tuesday Pentagon briefing, there have been 21 strikes to date, with 81 people killed.

“I wish everybody could be in the room watching … the detail, the intel, the legal, the evidence-based way that we’re able to—with sources and methods that we can’t reveal here— make sure that every one of those drug boats is tied to a designated terrorist organization,” Hegseth told reporters during the Cabinet meeting. “We know who’s on it, what they’re doing, what they’re carrying. All these white bales are not Christmas gifts from Santa.”

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro bolstered his military along his country’s coast in response to a buildup of U.S. carrier ships there. The White House calls Maduro an illegitimate dictator, due in part to his unwillingness to accept an apparent election defeat in 2024. Instead, he retained control of the military, judiciary, and the legislature, and his opponent fled the country. The U.S. government has deemed Maduro the leader of the Cartel de los Soles, and the Justice Department has indicted him on narcoterrorism charges, offering $50 million for information leading to his arrest. Maduro says he has no cartel ties and accuses the United States of plotting to overthrow him.

Trump hasn’t openly said that he’s trying to topple Maduro’s regime. But he says his actions are aimed at stopping drug trafficking.

“You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also,” Trump told military members during a Thanksgiving phone call. “The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.”

But Trump has not yet requested a declaration of war from Congress or even an authorized use of military force. In a joint statement, Kaine, Schiff, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said further action would be a “colossal and costly mistake that needlessly risks the lives of our servicemembers.” In the House, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., joined Democrats to file a similar resolution.

Some Republicans say that before making a judgment, they’re simply waiting for more information, such as might come to light during Thursday’s closed-door briefing.

“We need to know what was done, how it was done, who gave orders, what was the timing—all those are reasonable questions that need to come out,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told me.

For his part, Wicker told reporters: “These are serious charges, and that’s the reason we’re going to have special oversight.”