Topline
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Admiral Frank Bradley ordered the second strike on a suspected drug trafficking vessel in September in the Caribbean in order to fully destroy the boat, and rejected a report in the Washington Post that an order came from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “kill everybody” that has drawn new scrutiny from legislators.
The White House said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct strikes in the Caribbean against suspected drug traffickers.
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Key Facts
At Monday’s White House press briefing, Leavitt said Trump and Hegseth authorized Bradley to “conduct these kinetic strikes” to target suspected narcotics traffickers in the Caribbean.
However, a Washington Post report has drawn scrutiny over the first strike conducted in September, when the military struck a vessel a second time as survivors clung to the sinking ship—an act that some Republicans and Democrats in Congress have said could constitute a war crime.
Leavitt said the admiral “worked well within his authority and the law to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”
The press secretary also defended the legality of the strikes, stating they were in “self-defense to protect Americans.”
Sources told the Post that Hegseth previously gave a verbal order to “kill everybody,” but Leavitt said, “I would reject that the Secretary of War ever said that.”
Key Background
The military began a campaign targeting suspected drug traffickers in September, at first targeting small boats in the Caribbean and since expanding to vessels in the Pacific Ocean. But the Post’s reporting has drawn fresh criticism from Congress. “Going after survivors in the water, that is clearly not lawful,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “If that reporting is true, 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,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told ABC News’ “This Week” that if the reporting was accurate, “that is a violation of the law of war.” On Monday, Leavitt said Hegseth “spoke with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns over the weekend.” Leavitt did not elaborate on which lawmakers the defense secretary met with. Trump disputed the report that the order came directly from Hegseth when speaking to reporters on Sunday. “I don’t know that that happened, and Pete said he did not want them, he didn’t even know what people were talking about,” later adding “no, I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike.” Hegseth also called the Post’s reporting “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory” in a social media post Friday, but also defended the legality of the strikes, insisting “every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”