Key GOP senator says he has no objection to releasing video of strike
that killed two survivors
[December 08, 2025]
By BILL BARROW
A video of a U.S. military strike on an alleged drug boat in the
Caribbean that killed two survivors of the initial attack shows “nothing
remarkable,” the Republican who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee
said Sunday, and he would not oppose its public release if the Pentagon
were to declassify it.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who backs President Donald Trump’s campaign
against suspected drug smugglers, is partially aligning himself with
Trump and top Democrats in favor of releasing the video of the Sept. 2
attack. It was the first in what has become a monthslong series of
American strikes on vessels near Venezuela that the administration says
were ferrying drugs. At least 87 people have been killed in 22 known
strikes.
But Cotton, among the top lawmakers on national security committees who
were briefed Thursday by the Navy admiral commanding those strikes, is
splitting with Democrats over whether military personnel acted lawfully
in carrying out a second strike to kill the two survivors. The nine
others aboard the boat also were killed.
“I think it’s really important that this video be made public. It’s not
lost on anyone, of course, that the interpretation of the video ...
broke down precisely on party lines,” said Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes,
the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He said he has
spent “years looking at videos of lethal action taken, often in the
terrorism context, and this video was profoundly shaking.”
When Trump was asked Wednesday whether he would release the video of
that follow-on strike, he told reporters, “I don’t know what they have,
but whatever they have we’d certainly release. No problem." Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Fox News interview Saturday at the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California that officials were
reviewing the video. “Whatever we were to decide to release, we'd have
to be very responsible" about it.
“That boat was still a valid target,” Cotton said, arguing that
releasing the video would prove that the two survivors of the initial
strike remained a threat.
“It’s not gruesome. I didn’t find it distressing or disturbing,” he
said, explaining why he does not have a problem with releasing all the
footage. “It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we’ve seen on
jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.” He added
that “there's nothing remarkable on that video, in my opinion.”
The classified sessions on Capitol Hill came after The Washington Post
reported that Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley had ordered a follow-on attack
that killed those survivors, to comply with Hegseth’s demands. Bradley
told lawmakers there was no “kill them all” order from Hegseth, but a
video of the entire series of attacks left some lawmakers with serious
questions. Legal experts have said killing survivors of a strike at sea
could be a violation of the laws of military warfare.
[to top of second column]
|
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks to reporters following a classified
briefing for top congressional lawmakers overseeing national
security as they investigate how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
handled a military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat and its
crew in the Caribbean near Venezuela Sept. 2, at the Capitol in
Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed
Services Committee, and Himes are among those who have seen the
video and they disputed Cotton’s characterization.
“I have no doubt that these guys were involved in the running of
drugs. … But in that instance, these guys were about to die,” Himes
said.
Smith added: "It did not appear that these two survivors were in any
position to continue the fight."
Himes said lawmakers are aware of the partisan divide.
Some legal experts have disputed that the United States is in an
official armed conflict with Venezuela, raising questions about the
legalities of using American military personnel for what would
amount to law enforcement activities that require due process. Other
experts have said that, regardless of the terms of engagement,
international law does not allow further attacks on defenseless
survivors of a previous attack. Specifically, Pentagon protocols say
that firing upon the shipwrecked is illegal.
There have been questions and criticism of the mission raised by
lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill, with inquiries ongoing.
Bradley told lawmakers in a closed session that he ordered the
second attack on the wreckage of a boat that was carrying cocaine
because it was believed that bales of the drug were still in the
hull of the boat.
Cotton said Sunday that two final victims were “not in a shipwrecked
state” or “floating helplessly in the water” but instead were
“sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat.” Because they were
“not incapacitated,” he said, “that boat, its cargo ... remained
valid targets.”
Smith, who saw the same video, said, “The boat was clearly
incapacitated. A tiny portion of it remained capsized, the bow of
the boat. They had no communications device. Certainly, they were
unarmed.”
Cotton was on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Smith was on ABC's “This Week”
and Himes appeared on CBS' “Face the Nation.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
