U.S. President Donald Trump has defended the military’s decision to conduct a second strike that resulted in the deaths of two survivors from an initial attack on a vessel suspected of drug smuggling in the Caribbean. Trump asserted that the men were attempting to salvage the capsized boat.
Trump’s defense comes amidst increasing pressure from lawmakers for his administration to release footage of the September 2 operation. The initial strike on September 2 killed nine individuals, followed by a subsequent attack approximately 40 minutes later that killed the two survivors. Afterward, two further strikes were carried out to sink the vessel completely.
“They were trying to return the boat back to where it could float, and we didn’t want to see that because that boat was loaded up with drugs,” Trump stated to reporters at the White House on Monday.
When questioned about his previous remarks suggesting openness to releasing the footage, Trump denied having held that position and labeled the reporter as “obnoxious” and “terrible.”
The U.S. president also voiced his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had refrained from committing to making the footage public.
“Whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is okay with me,” Trump affirmed.
However, last Wednesday Trump told reporters about the strike footage: “Whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.”
Deadly Strikes Campaign
The September 2 operation initiated a series of U.S. strikes, spanning several months, targeting vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. The Trump administration claims these strikes are aimed at drug smugglers working for cartels, some of which they allege are controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
According to the administration, at least 86 individuals have been killed in at least 22 strikes since early September. Despite bipartisan opposition in Congress, Trump has broadly defended the campaign as essential to curbing the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
The administration argues that the U.S. is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with approximately two dozen drug cartels, which it has designated as terrorist organizations. They maintain that the strikes are in compliance with the laws of armed conflict.
However, legal experts and some lawmakers have raised concerns, questioning whether the killings constitute war crimes, especially the strike on survivors who posed no immediate threat.
Controversy Surrounding the Second Strike
The September 2 attack has faced particular scrutiny since reports surfaced indicating that survivors were visible in the water when the second strike was ordered.
Admiral Frank Bradley, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, who oversaw the operation, informed lawmakers in closed-door briefings that all 11 individuals on the boat were on an internal U.S. military target list of individuals authorized to be killed.
According to sources familiar with the congressional briefings, Bradley stated that Hegseth had instructed him to kill everyone on the boat, destroy the drugs, and sink the vessel.
Bradley told lawmakers that the second strike killed the two survivors but failed to sink the boat, leading to a third and fourth strike to complete the mission.
Reactions from Congress
Representative Adam Smith, the leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, stated that video of the attack showed the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”
On Saturday, Hegseth addressed the situation at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, stating that officials were reviewing the video but did not commit to releasing it.
“Whatever we were to decide to release, we’d have to be very responsible about it,” he said, citing concerns about exposing sources and methods tied to ongoing operations.
The Pentagon has not yet responded to requests for comment on the status of Hegseth’s review or confirm Trump’s assertion that the survivors appeared to be trying to right the vessel before the second strike.
Legal Justification Under Scrutiny
Prior to the Trump administration’s commencement of strikes on boats in September, counter-narcotics operations were managed by law enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard. Suspected traffickers were treated as criminals entitled to due process.
The Justice Department produced a classified legal opinion over the summer arguing the president is legally authorized to conduct lethal strikes against the cartels in self-defense because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.
However, that justification has been questioned after reports that in at least one instance, a targeted boat had turned around and was moving away from the U.S. before being struck.
Trump claimed on Monday that “every boat we knock out of the water, we save 25,000 American lives,” though he provided no evidence for that figure.
Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. totalled approximately 80,000 in 2024, a 25% decline from 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
