When members of Congress emerged from a classified briefing on the now-controversial Sept. 2 strikes against an alleged Venezuelan narco-terrorist boat, Democrats continued to accuse the Trump administration of war crimes and called for the firing of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, while Republicans claimed the Trump administration was well within its rights to carry out the strikes.
After news reports this week created conflicting narratives about the Sept. 2 strikes, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, head of Special Operations Command, came to Capitol Hill to brief members of the House and Senate.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Hegseth should be fired in comments made to the press on Thursday. The Arizona senator is currently being investigated by the Department of War and the DOJ following his participation in a video that called for members of the military to “refuse illegal orders†from the Trump administration in the midst of America’s campaign against the alleged drug traffickers.
Kelly and the other members who took part in the video have been labeled “the Seditious Six” by members of the Trump administration. “As veterans of various sorts, the Seditious Six knew exactly what they were doing—sowing doubt through a politically-motivated influence operation. The @DeptofWar won’t fall for it or stand for it,†Hegseth wrote about Kelly and the other video participants on November 25.
It’s not the first time Kelly has called for Hegseth’s termination. Kelly had previously called for Hegseth to be fired after the leak of a private Signal group chat of high-ranking Trump officials to The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
During the closed-door briefing, the members watched the video of the strikes against the alleged drug traffickers.
Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., described the footage from Sept. 2 as “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.“
“You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel were killed by the United States,” Himes added.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., however, described the September 2 attacks as “righteous strikes” at a press gaggle on Thursday.
“I didn’t see anything disturbing about it,” Cotton said of the video. “What’s disturbing to me is that millions of Americans have died from drugs being run to America by these cartels.”
“These are Narco terrorists who are trafficking drugs that are destined for the United States to kill thousands of Arkansans and millions of Americans,” Cotton said.
“I saw two survivors trying to put the boats loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over, so they could stay in the fight,†the Arkansas senator explained. “And potentially, given all the contacts we heard of other Narco terrorist boats in the area coming to their aid, to recover their cargo, and recover those narco-terrorists.”
Previously, the Washington Post reported from an anonymous source that Hegseth had given an oral order to “kill everybody,†which precipitated a second strike on the drug boat when two survivors were spotted. On Monday, however, the New York Times reported that Hegseth had not given that oral order and that Bradley had overseen the operation and the second strike.
Fellow Arkansan, Republican Rep. Rick Crawford, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, also expressed support for the Department of War’s actions on September 2.Â
“There is no doubt in my mind about the highly professional manner in which the Department of War conducted, and is conducting the operations our nation has called them to do to protect the homeland from these dangerous cartels,†Crawford said in a statement posted on X.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told The Daily Signal that, “President Trump and [War] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth have every right to destroy every narco-terrorist trying to smuggle drugs into the U.S. that they can find.â€
“The truth is the Democrats never wanted Secretary Hegseth—he’s a threat to permanent Washington’s status quo and the Democrats can’t stand that. I support Secretary Hegseth and applaud the work he has done to bring a realist perspective to our foreign policy and a warrior ethos back to our military,†the Missouri senator added.
Cotton also praised the Trump administration for its strikes on the narco-terrorists.
“What’s gratifying to me is that the president has made the decision, finally, after decades of letting it happen, that we’re going to take the battle to them. And we’re going to continue to strike these boats until [the] cartels learn their lesson, when their drugs are no longer coming to America,†Cotton stated.
Cotton detailed the process by which the attacks had been authorized.
“Look, this is not like a firefight in some cave in Afghanistan that had three people. This was witnessed by literally hundreds of uniformed and civilian personnel at the Pentagon, at Fort Bragg, at other installations. Dozens of them were lawyers. Everybody was watching. Everybody had seen the intelligence and the legal basis leading up to these strikes,†Cotton said.
The Army veteran expressed an openness to releasing the footage he saw in the closed-door briefing to the public stating he would leave the determination up to the Department of Defense but that he “didn’t see anything in there that concerned me.â€
“Look, these videos have been made and released for 25 years,†Cotton added.
When asked if he would have made the same call on the strikes, Cotton said he would have. “If I was Admiral Bradley, and I’d been delegated that authority, absolutely,†the senator concluded.
The post ‘Righteous Strikes’: Congress Reacts to Classified Briefing on Narco-Terrorist Strikes appeared first on The Daily Signal.