US President Donald Trump on Monday came under intense scrutiny for attacks on ships in the Caribbean, justifying the military’s decision to fire a second missile, claiming two suspected drug smugglers were trying to right the ship that capsized in the first attack.
President Trump’s comments came as his administration faces demands from Democratic lawmakers to release footage of the Sept. 2 operation, in which nine people on the boat were killed in the initial attack and two more survived.
On Monday, US leaders backtracked on whether to release video footage of the second attack.
“They were trying to get the boat back in a position where it could float, but there were drugs on that boat and we didn’t want to see that,” Trump said Monday.
Asked by reporters about his comments last week in which he suggested he was open to releasing footage of the second attack, Trump denied that was his position and slammed the reporter, calling him “disgusting” and “terrible.”
“Whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is OK,” Trump said.
But in an exchange with reporters last Wednesday about the strike footage, President Trump said, “Whatever they have, we will definitely release it.”
At least 87 people killed in 22 known strikes
The Sept. 2 operation was the first in a series of months-long U.S. attacks on ships in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean that the U.S. government says targets drug smugglers operating on behalf of cartels, including those controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
At least 87 people have been killed in 22 known airstrikes, and despite bipartisan opposition in Congress, President Trump has largely justified the campaign as necessary for his administration to stem the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States. He claims that the United States is in an armed conflict with narco-terrorists.
Hegseth said.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are demanding that the Pentagon provide Congress with “unedited video of the strike” against drug cartels, and are threatening to withhold a quarter of Hegseth’s travel expenses if it does not. The provision is included in a $900 billion defense bill that the House is expected to vote on later this week.
Hegseth said in a Fox News interview Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California that authorities were reviewing the video but would not commit to making it public. “Whatever you decide to release, you have to be very responsible about it.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment on the status of Hegseth’s review, nor could it confirm Trump’s claims that the suspects appeared to have tried to surrender the vessel before a second attack.