WASHINGTON ― Congressional Republicans expressed concern about U.S. military actions in the Caribbean, pledging to investigate multiple strikes on one suspected Venezuelan drug boat off the coast of Trinidad that killed defenseless survivors.
“The accusations are really serious, so we need to make sure we have proper oversight. We need full accountability and transparency,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a veteran, said in an interview with HuffPost.
“It’s defenseless people,” noted Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.). “You get in combat, somebody surrenders, and as they’re surrendering, you just don’t put a firing squad up there and just shoot them. I mean, don’t do that.”
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody” in a pair of Sept. 2 airstrikes on an alleged drug trafficking boat that had 11 people on board, the first vessel hit in the Trump administration’s growing military campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. The second strike killed two survivors clinging to the burning wreckage of the boat, which Democrats and military experts have called a possible war crime.
Hegseth said on Tuesday that he watched the boat strike on a live video feed but didn’t stay for the entire event. He said U.S. Navy Admiral Frank Bradley made the call to “sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”
“I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire…This is called the fog of war,” Hegseth said at a meeting between President Donald Trump and his Cabinet at the White House about the use of military force, which Congress has not authorized.
Hegseth and the White House have offered shifting answers about the details involving the strikes. After the Post initially reported on his order, Hegseth denied the story, saying, “This entire narrative is completely false.” He later acknowledged the strikes but shifted responsibility for them to Bradley. The White House also confirmed the second military strike on the vessel on Monday.
“I think Hegseth can come in and testify under oath what the orders are,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told reporters on Tuesday, adding that there are “real questions” about what the secretary knew about the incident. “He’s saying it didn’t happen, and now on Monday, [the White House is] saying it happened.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee ― led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) – is leading a probe into the boat strikes. Republican members on the committee said they would interview those involved, likely in a classified setting and not before the public.
“If he didn’t authorize this… we need to know that. We need to know what’s what,” Justice added in an interview with HuffPost, calling the second strike on defenseless targets “unacceptable.”
Asked if he had confidence in Hegseth, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “right now” he did.
“But we’re looking at more data,” he added.