White House says admiral ordered follow-up strike on alleged drug boat,
insists attack was lawful
[December 02, 2025]
By AAMER MADHANI and REGINA GARCIA CANO
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted
“within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up
strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S.
military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification
for the Sept. 2 strike as lawmakers announced there will be
congressional review of the U.S. military strikes against vessels
suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific
Ocean. The lawmakers cited a published report that Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed
survivors on the boat.
Navy Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who Leavitt said ordered the
second strike, is expected to provide a classified briefing Thursday to
lawmakers overseeing the military.
Leavitt in her comments to reporters did not dispute a Washington Post
report that there were survivors after the initial strike. Her
explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said he
“wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” when asked about the
incident.
“Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic
strikes,” said Leavitt. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his
authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was
destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was
eliminated.”
Late Monday, Hegseth posted: “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero,
a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the
combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others
since.”
A month after the strike, Bradley was promoted from commander of Joint
Special Operations Command to commander of U.S. Special Operations
Command.
Concern over the Trump administration's military strikes against the
alleged drug-smuggling boats has been building in Congress, but details
of this follow-on strike stunned many lawmakers from both parties and
generated stark questions about the legality of the attacks and the
overall strategy in the region, and particularly toward Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro.
The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Post report was
true, and some Republicans were skeptical. Still, they said the reported
attacking of survivors of an initial missile strike posed serious
concerns and merited further scrutiny.
The White House weighed in after Trump on Sunday vigorously defended
Hegseth.
“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump said. He
added, “And I believe him.”
Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have
expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke over
the weekend with the two Republican and two Democratic lawmakers leading
the Senate and House Armed Services committees. He reiterated “his trust
and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon,” Caine's
office said in a statement.
The statement added that the call focused on “addressing the intent and
legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which
threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere."
Congress wants answers
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday broadly defended the
operations, echoing the Trump administration position that they're
necessary to stem the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.
Thune said the committees in Congress will look into what happened. “I
don’t think you want to draw any conclusions or deductions until you
have all the facts,” he said of the Sept. 2 strike. “We’ll see where
they lead.”
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air
Force One from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint
Base Andrews, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
After the Post’s report, Hegseth said Friday on X that “fake news is
delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting
to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the
homeland.”
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S.
and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law
of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian
lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” Hegseth wrote.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Hegseth a “national
embarrassment” over his response to critics. Schumer demanded that
Hegseth release the video of the strike and testify under oath about
what happened.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, pledged that his panel's
investigation would be “done by the numbers.”
“We’ll find out the ground truth,” he said, adding that the
ramifications of the report were “serious charges.”
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee, who also called
for the administration to release the video of the strike, said its
inquiry would start “with briefings about what actually happened”
from the officials involved.
“If they’ve done nothing wrong, then that video should exonerate
them completely. Why don’t they release it?” he asked.
In the House, Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of its Armed
Services Committee, said he was “satisfied” following a conversation
with Hegseth on the attack, but that he also wanted to hear from
Bradley.
“We’ll all have clarity on Thursday afternoon,” Rogers said.
Venezuela's president reacts
Trump met later Monday with his national security team to discuss
the ongoing operations and potential next steps against Venezuela.
The U.S. administration says the strikes are aimed at drug cartels,
some of which it claims are controlled by Maduro. Trump also is
weighing whether to carry out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland.
Trump confirmed Sunday that he had recently spoken by phone with
Maduro but declined to detail the conversation.
Speaking to supporters in Caracas on Monday, Maduro said U.S.
pressure has “tested” the country but Venezuelans are ready "to
defend it and lead it to the path of peace.”
"We have lived through 22 weeks of aggression that can only be
described as psychological terrorism,” Maduro said.
The September strike was one in a series carried out by the U.S.
military in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean as Trump has
ordered the buildup of a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including
the largest U.S. aircraft carrier. More than 80 people have been
killed in the strikes.
Venezuela’s National Assembly has announced the launch of an
investigation into the lethal strikes. Sunday’s announcement by the
Assembly’s president, Jorge Rodríguez, was the first time that a
Maduro government official explicitly acknowledged that Venezuelans
have been killed in the monthslong U.S. military operation.
Rodríguez, Maduro’s chief negotiator, said a group of lawmakers will
come together to investigate “the serious events that led to the
murder of Venezuelans in the waters of the Caribbean Sea.”
___
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press
writers Stephen Groves, Lisa Mascaro and Konstantin Toropin
contributed to this report.
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