Senators from the Democratic and Republican parties have launched a bipartisan investigation into War Secretary Pete Hegseth following new allegations.
The investigation is based on an allegation that Hegseth ordered U.S. forces to leave no survivors during a September 2 airstrike on a suspected drug-running boat in the Caribbean.
Highlights
- Bipartisan Senate investigation launched into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over alleged order to leave no survivors in a drug boat airstrike.
- The airstrike on September 2 targeted a suspected narcotics vessel, raising serious legal and war crime concerns.
- Hegseth and President Trump denied the allegations, claiming the strikes are lawful efforts to stop narcotics and protect the U.S.
Lawmakers from both parties said the investigation raises serious legal concerns.
A bipartisan investigation has been launched into Pete Hegseth following new allegations
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Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Senator Jack Reed announced the inquiry in a joint statement Saturday.
“The Committee is aware of recent news reports and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” they said in the statement.
“The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
Their decision follows extensive reporting from The Washington Post, which said Hegseth had issued an order to “kill everybody” aboard a suspected narcotics vessel. According to officials cited by the paper, a first missile strike left two survivors in the water.
A Special Operations commander then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive. The two men “were blown apart in the water,” the report said.
“This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine in response to the report.
Republican Representative Mike Turner said, “Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act.”
Hegseth responded on social media Friday, calling the reporting “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.”
He insisted the strikes are lawful, writing, “these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.”
President Donald Trump defended Hegseth on Sunday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One, “He [Hegseth] said he did not say that. And I believe him a 100%.” Trump further said the administration “will look into” the matter and that he “wouldn’t have wanted that—not a second strike.”
Vice President JD Vance came to Hegseth’s defense back in September in response to commentator Brian Krassenstein, who had noted that the killing of citizens of another nation without “due process is called a war crime.”
“I don’t give a s**t what you call it,” Vance said in response.
Hegseth allegedly ordered U.S. forces to leave no survivors during a September 2 airstrike
The September 2 strike marked the first in a series of more than a dozen attacks on boats the administration identified as drug-smuggling vessels. More than 80 people have been killed in three months of operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
The Pentagon and Trump administration say the campaign targets “designated terrorist organizations” moving narcotics toward the U.S.
Videos released by the Trump administration of the strikes contain significant gaps, with some showing only the initial explosion. In addition, the Pentagon has not complied with a bipartisan request to view unedited footage.
This lack of transparency creates a major obstacle to holding the government accountable.
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Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who advised Special Operations forces, told The Washington Post that the alleged traffickers did not pose any imminent threat of attack against the U.S.
He said they are not in an “armed conflict” with the U.S., contrary to what the Trump administration says. Because there is no legitimate war between the two, Huntley said killing any of the men in the boats “amounts to murder.”
Even in the circumstance that the U.S. was at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight “would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime,” Huntley added.
As the investigations move forward, Hegseth continues to defend the campaign. “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists,” he wrote in one post.
The comments come as the Trump administration escalates its campaign to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
On Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela should be considered as “closed in its entirety.”
Venezuela’s foreign ministry accused Trump of making a “colonialist threat” and called Trump’s comments “another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people.”
Three in four Americans say Trump needs congressional approval before taking military action in Venezuela
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The administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean are a key reason Americans disapprove of Trump, according to recent polls.
As Trump scored the lowest approval rating of his second term, many people say they do not see Venezuela as a threat to the U.S. and are largely opposed to potential military action.
Three in four Americans said Trump needs congressional approval before taking military action in Venezuela.