Navy admiral who ordered attack on ship says Hegseth didn’t give in

Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared in a series of classified briefings behind closed doors at the Capitol as lawmakers conducted an investigation after a report that he ordered the next attack that killed survivors to meet Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such an attack could be a violation of the laws of military war.

“Bradley was very clear that he received no such order, to give no quarter or kill them all,” said Senator Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerging from a classified briefing.

While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the slain survivors questioned the Trump administration’s reasoning and said the incident was deeply troubling.

“The order was basically: destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the ship,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

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Calling for further investigation, Smith said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of an overturned, inoperable boat, floating in the water, until missiles come and kill them.”

On Thursday night, the US Southern Command announced that it had carried out another attack against a small ship in the eastern Pacific Ocean after a pause of almost three weeks. There were four victims, according to the social media post.

Lawmakers have not yet specifically authorized the use of military force against suspected drug ships, and the Republican-controlled Congress has rejected attempts to rein in Trump’s power to participate in the missile campaign, which Hegseth has vowed to continue. Several Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign.

Congressional investigation begins

Lawmakers want a full accounting of the Sept. 2 attack, which was the first in what has become a month-long series of U.S. military strikes on ships near Venezuela believed to be transporting drugs. The Washington Post had reported that Bradley ordered the next attack on the survivors.

But lawmakers who lead the House and Senate homeland security committees in Congress gave different descriptions of what the two survivors were doing when they were killed.

Cotton said he saw them “trying to turn over a ship loaded with drugs bound for the United States so they could continue the fight.”

He said there were “several minutes” between the first and second attacks, which consisted of four missile attacks. He said it was “gratifying” that the US military was taking “the battle” to the cartels.

But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said “what I saw in that room was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”

“You have two individuals in a clear situation of danger, without any means of transportation, with a destroyed boat,” he said, and who “were murdered by the United States.”

No distress calls or other communications were issued by the survivors, although lawmakers were told it appeared people had one hand raised, “waving” at one point during the attacks, Smith said.

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Smith acknowledged that there was likely cocaine on the ship, but objects to the Republican administration’s justification for continuing attacks on suspected drug traffickers who may or may not be headed to the United States. “That’s really the core of the problem with all of this,” he said. “I think that incredibly broad definition is what sets in motion all these issues about the use of deadly force and the use of the military.”

Who is Admiral Bradley?

At the time of the attack, Bradley was the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, which oversaw coordinated operations among the Army’s elite special operations units at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About a month after the attack, he was promoted to commander of the US Special Operations Command.

His military career, spanning more than three decades, was spent primarily serving in the elite Navy SEALs and commanding joint operations. He was one of the first special forces officers to deploy to Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. His latest promotion to admiral was approved by a unanimous vote in the Senate this year, and Democratic and Republican senators praised his record.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R.N.C., has described Bradley as one of the “rock solid” and “most extraordinary people to ever serve in the military.”

But lawmakers like Tillis have also made clear that they expect a reckoning if survivors are found to have been targeted. “Anyone in the chain of command who was responsible for it, who had a vision for it, needs to be held accountable,” he said.

What else are lawmakers looking for?

Trump’s campaign against alleged traffickers is based on his argument that drug cartels are equivalent to armed combatants because their cargo poses a threat to American lives.

Democrats are demanding the release of the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, as well as written records of orders and directives about Hegseth’s mission. None of the written orders or audio of the verbal orders were shared with lawmakers.

A memo from the White House Office of Legal Counsel providing a justification for the attacks was dated after the fact, September 5. That memo remains secret and Democrats want it made public.

However, getting more information will largely depend on action by Republican lawmakers, who have majority control of the committees, a potentially painful prospect for them if it puts them at odds with the president.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, have formally requested executive orders authorizing the operations and full videos of the attacks, among other items. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied his requests for basic information about the operation, Reed said.

Republican lawmakers close to Trump have largely supported Hegseth and the administration’s decision to carry out the strikes.

On the other hand, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and others see the US military operation as part of an effort to bring about a change of government in the South American country. Maduro acknowledged on Wednesday that he spoke by phone last month with Trump, who confirmed the call days before.

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News writer Mary Clare Jalonick and Regina García Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.