Lawmakers watch video of second attack on ship survivors, say admiral testified there was no order to kill

Washington- Military officials showed lawmakers a video of a Second attack on alleged Venezuelan drug ship behind closed doors at the Capitol on Thursday and testified that there was no order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to kill everyone on board, several lawmakers said.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, head of Special Operations Command, briefed the leaders of both the House and Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. The classified briefings focused on the Trump administration’s campaign against suspected drug trafficking ships off the coast of South America, including the Continuation strike of September 2 That has become a flashpoint in Congress.

The Pentagon has been under fire since the Washington Post reported that a second missile killed two survivors of the initial attack. Hegseth has said that the decision to attack the ship again was made by Bradley, who was leading the mission. Survivors were trying to get back on the ship before it was hit a second time, according to a source familiar with the matter. said News themezone on Wednesday.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, spoke to reporters after the briefings. Both said Bradley told them he had not been ordered not to leave any survivors. The Post’s initial report quoted an anonymous source as saying that before the first attack, Hegseth verbally ordered everyone on the ship to be removed. “The order was to kill everyone,” the source said, according to the Post article. Hegseth has denied the Post’s version.

Lawmakers also said they were shown video of the second attack, which has not been made public. Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, told reporters after the briefing that “what I saw in that room was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”

“There are two individuals in a clear situation of danger, without any means of transportation, with a destroyed ship, who are murdered by the United States,” Himes said.

“Any American who sees the video I saw will see the United States military attacking the castaways (bad, bad) but attacking the castaways,” Himes added. “Now there is a whole set of contextual elements that the admiral explained: Yes, they were carrying drugs. They were not in a position to continue their mission in any way. People will one day see this video and see that this video shows, if you don’t have the broader context, an attack on shipwrecked sailors.”

President Trump said Wednesday that he would support releasing the footage.

Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, refuted Himes’ characterization of the video after his briefing, saying he “didn’t see anything disturbing about it.”

Cotton said the four attacks on September 2 were “completely legal and necessary, and were exactly what we expected our military commanders to do.”

“I saw two survivors trying to flip a ship loaded with drugs bound for the United States so they could stay in the fight, and potentially, given all the context we’ve heard, other narcoterrorist ships in the area coming to their aid to recover the cargo and get those narcoterrorists back,” Cotton said.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee and was also briefed, told reporters, “I think it would be difficult to watch this series of videos and not be concerned,” and said he has “more political questions than ever” about the mission.

Coons said there were certain aspects of the briefing that he found more reassuring regarding the process and intelligence, but “more broadly, I think what we are asking the men and women of our military, and particularly special forces, to do, still lacks a clear justification.”

“The underlying judgment that frames this entire operation is that if there is a ship with narcotics and people affiliated with a drug trafficking organization, that is a legitimate target,” Coons said. “I still have questions about that.”

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that he was “deeply disturbed by what I saw this morning” and called on the Pentagon to release footage of the second strike.

“This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump Administration’s military activities and demonstrates exactly why the Senate Armed Services Committee has repeatedly requested — and has been denied — information, documents and fundamental facts about this operation. “This must be and will be the only beginning of our investigation into this incident.”

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also called the video “very disturbing” and said all members of Congress should watch it. But Warner declined to comment on the legality or morality of the matter.

Republican Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement after the briefings that “I have no doubt about the highly professional manner in which the War Department conducted and is conducting the operations our nation has called upon them to conduct to protect the homeland.”

“I am deeply concerned by public statements made by others who seek to ignore the reality of attacking terrorists to score political points,” he added.

The strike has sparked bipartisan concern from lawmakers and promises to investigate. Although the administration has argued that the follow-up strike was legal and justified, members of Congress and experts have questioned its legalitywith accusations from some Democrats that it would constitute a war crime if the second attack targeted the survivors.

The attack was the first in the government’s campaign against suspected drug traffickers in the southern hemisphere, which has now increased to more than 20 attacks and killed more than 80 people. The attacks drew scrutiny from lawmakers even before the Post report, as the administration is carrying them out without congressional authorization. The government has argued that it has the legal authority to carry out the attacks because it has designated drug cartels as terrorist organizations and U.S. troops are not in danger.