Senior Democrat says Pentagon didn't present conclusive evidence alleged drug smugglers killed in strike were gang membe

Source: CNN

Defense Department officials briefing congressional staff on Tuesday about last week’s US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean did not present conclusive evidence that the targets of the attack were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, according to the senior Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and three people familiar with the briefing.

“They have offered no positive identification that the boat was Venezuelan, nor that its crew were members of Tren de Aragua or any other cartel,” Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Tuesday after his staff were briefed by DoD.

The briefers also acknowledged that they could not determine exactly where the targets were headed, two of the sources said. Whereas Trump has said they were en route to the US, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said, “these particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean, at which point they just contribute to the instability these countries are facing.”

Another of the sources said the briefers disclosed that the boat turned around at one point after appearing to spot a military aircraft above that had been watching them. The boat turning around, reported earlier by the New York Times, raises more questions about whether it posed an immediate threat to the US that necessitated military action......

Pressed repeatedly on the legal justification for the strike, the briefers invoked the president’s authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force when it is in the national interest, the sources said. The briefers said that lawyers had signed off on the attack but would not disclose which lawyers or what their reasoning was, the sources added.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/politics/senior-democrat-pentagon-strike-gang-members-evidence

In briefing to the hill, DoD did not present conclusive evidence that the targets of last week’s attack were members of Tren de Aragua, top Armed Services Dem and sources say. Briefers also acknowledged the boat turned around before being struck. www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/p...

— Natasha Bertrand (@natashabertrand.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T15:01:19.821Z