WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday confirmed the U.S. did launch a second strike on an alleged drug boat from Venezuela in early September, conflicting with what President Donald Trump told reporters a day earlier.
The second strike killed the survivors of the initial U.S. strike on the vessel, which the Trump administration says originated from Venezuela. Some lawmakers have said that the second attack could constitute a war crime.
“With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement during Monday’s press briefing.
“Adm. 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,” she added.
The Washington Post reported that Bradley had ordered the second strike and that he was complying with an order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “kill everybody.” However, when asked about the reports while on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said he would not have wanted a second strike to kill survivors and said that Hegseth denied ordering it.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump said when asked about the report. “[Hegseth] said, he said, he did not say that. And I believe him. But no, I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine, and if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence.”
According to The Post, Hegseth allegedly gave an order ahead of the Sept. 2 operation to kill everybody aboard the suspected drug boat. After the initial strike left two survivors, Adm. Mitch Bradley, who was in charge of the operation, complied with Hegseth’s alleged order.
Hegseth, in a social media post Monday night, said that Bradley ordered the second strike. “Let’s make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.”
Leavitt also said Trump would be meeting with his national security team — which includes Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — in the Oval Office later Monday. A senior White House official confirmed Monday night that the meeting had taken place.
Lawmakers from both parties voiced their outrage over the report and called for an investigation into the incident, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who demanded Hegseth release the “full, unedited tapes of the strikes so the American people can see for themselves.”
Similarly, the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee — chairman Mike Rogers, (R-AL) and ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) — said they were taking “seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.”
Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and ranking Democrat Sen. Jack Reed last week called for “vigorous oversight to determine the facts” of the allegations.
The strikes in the Caribbean are part of a pressure campaign the Trump administration is waging against Venezuela. Trump said in a Truth Social post Saturday that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “closed,” which came as the U.S. is considering military action.
