Trump Backs Hegseth as Congress Opens Inquiries Into Second Boat Strike

President Donald Trump came to the defense of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday as lawmakers in both parties demanded answers about a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean that reportedly killed survivors of an earlier attack on the same boat, according to Channel 4 News. Trump was also set to convene his most senior advisers at the White House to discuss the administration’s campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The controversy began on Friday, when The Washington Post reported that on Sept. 2 U.S. forces struck a boat the administration says was carrying drugs from Venezuela, leaving survivors, and that Hegseth ordered those survivors killed, as NPR summarized the account. The Defense Department called the Post’s account “completely false,” NPR reported. NPR said it had confirmed that Hegseth ordered both strikes, though an unnamed official in NPR’s reporting disputed the White House version of events.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that a second strike took place. She said Hegseth had authorized Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley to carry out the strikes and that “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law,” according to NPR. The unnamed official told NPR that Hegseth had ordered two strikes meant to kill, in addition to two meant to sink the boat. Channel 4 reported that the second strike followed a first attack that had not killed everyone aboard.

Some Democrats have called the double strike a war crime, Channel 4 reported, and members of both parties have said the second strike may have constituted a war crime, according to NPR. Two congressional inquiries have been opened, Channel 4 said, and NPR reported that the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees said they would look into the strikes. Bradley was expected to give lawmakers a classified briefing on Thursday, NPR reported.

Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and retired Navy officer, said service members need to understand “the law of the sea, the Geneva Conventions,” according to NPR, and said the second strike could have been illegal if the reporting is accurate. Kelly was among the Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds who appeared in a video weeks earlier telling troops to refuse illegal orders, which Trump called seditious behavior punishable by death, NPR noted.

The administration has carried out the strikes against what it claims are drug boats traveling from Venezuela to the United States, Channel 4 reported, and the White House says the admiral acted lawfully and within the authority he was given.

The dispute lands as the military buildup off Venezuela’s coast grows. NPR reported that Maduro believes Washington is seeking regime change and has accused it of using the anti-drug campaign as a pretext to seize the country’s oil. Trump told reporters he spoke with Maduro last week but would not describe the call, according to NPR. NPR said the Monday White House meeting had been set to be with Trump’s national security team, which would include Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.