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Hegseth, with White House help, tries to distance himself from boat strike fallout
Source: Washington Post
Hegseth, with White House help, tries to distance himself from boat strike fallout
As Congress vows accountability, the Trump administration emphasized it was a top military commander -- not the defense secretary -- who directed the engagement.
Updated
December 1, 2025 at 8:31 p.m. EST
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the White House in November. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)
By Noah Robertson and Tara Copp
Officials in Congress and the Pentagon said Monday they are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration intends to scapegoat the military officer who directed U.S. forces to kill two survivors of a targeted strike on suspected drug smugglers in Latin America, as lawmakers made initial moves to investigate whether the attack constituted a war crime.
{snip}
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/01/hegseth-caine-boat-strikes-caribbean/
Description at the WaPo website:
Concerns grow that Hegseth, White House aim to scapegoat admiral in deadly boat strike
As Congress vows accountability, the Trump administration emphasized it was a top military commander -- not Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth -- who directed the engagement.
By Noah Robertson and Tara Copp Updated 1 hour ago
14 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Hegseth Ordered a Lethal Attack but Not the Killing of Survivors, Officials Say
Amid talk of war crimes, the details and precise sequence of a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean are facing intensifying scrutiny.
The suggestion that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or his officials targeted shipwrecked survivors has been galvanizing because that would apparently be a war crime even if one accepts Trump officials’ broader argument for the strike campaign. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
By Charlie Savage, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and John Ismay
Reporting from Washington
Dec. 1, 2025
Updated 9:36 p.m. ET
The Trump administration on Monday defended the legality of a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean Sea as calls grew in Congress to examine whether a follow-up missile strike that killed survivors amounted to a crime.
The lethal attack was the first in President Trump’s legally disputed campaign of killing people suspected of smuggling drugs at sea as if they were combatants in a war. It has started coming under intense bipartisan scrutiny in recent days amid questions about the decision to kill the initial survivors and what orders were issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
At the White House on Monday, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, read a statement that said Mr. Hegseth had authorized the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack, Adm. Frank M. Bradley, “to conduct these kinetic strikes.” ... She said that Admiral Bradley had “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.”
According to five U.S. officials, who spoke separately and on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter that is under investigation, Mr. Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs.
{snip}
Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy for The Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/charlie-savage
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/julian-e-barnes
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/eric-schmitt
John Ismay is a reporter covering the Pentagon for The Times. He served as an explosive ordnance disposal officer in the U.S. Navy.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/john-ismay
Amid talk of war crimes, the details and precise sequence of a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean are facing intensifying scrutiny.
The suggestion that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or his officials targeted shipwrecked survivors has been galvanizing because that would apparently be a war crime even if one accepts Trump officials’ broader argument for the strike campaign. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
By Charlie Savage, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and John Ismay
Reporting from Washington
Dec. 1, 2025
Updated 9:36 p.m. ET
The Trump administration on Monday defended the legality of a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean Sea as calls grew in Congress to examine whether a follow-up missile strike that killed survivors amounted to a crime.
The lethal attack was the first in President Trump’s legally disputed campaign of killing people suspected of smuggling drugs at sea as if they were combatants in a war. It has started coming under intense bipartisan scrutiny in recent days amid questions about the decision to kill the initial survivors and what orders were issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
At the White House on Monday, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, read a statement that said Mr. Hegseth had authorized the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack, Adm. Frank M. Bradley, “to conduct these kinetic strikes.” ... She said that Admiral Bradley had “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.”
According to five U.S. officials, who spoke separately and on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter that is under investigation, Mr. Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs.
{snip}
Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy for The Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/charlie-savage
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/julian-e-barnes
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/eric-schmitt
John Ismay is a reporter covering the Pentagon for The Times. He served as an explosive ordnance disposal officer in the U.S. Navy.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/john-ismay
News Analysis
For Trump, Hegseth’s Take-No-Prisoners Approach Is a Growing Liability
Investigations are mounting into the legality of strikes that have killed scores of people in the waters off Venezuela
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with President Trump in the Oval Office earlier this year. Doug Mills/The New York Times
By David E. Sanger and Helene Cooper
David E. Sanger has covered five presidents in more than four decades at The Times, writing often about national security and issues of superpower conflict. Helene Cooper has covered the Pentagon for more than a decade, and written about national security issues for more than 30 years.
Dec. 1, 2025
Updated 6:50 p.m. ET
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been a political problem for President Trump since his confirmation in the Senate early this year, which he survived thanks to a single, tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President JD Vance. ... He survived the leaked Signal chat episode, even when it became clear he had copied classified battle plans and pasted them into an encrypted, but unclassified, messaging chain. He blamed the press, began kicking news organizations out of the Pentagon press room and insisted they sign a pledge never to seek news not approved by his public affairs office. Almost no one signed, not even his previous employer Fox News.
Now, the political price of Mr. Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon has increased. As investigations mount into the legality of strikes that have killed scores of people in the waters off Venezuela, his take-no-prisoners, leave-no-survivors approach has led even Republican supporters to demand answers. So far, few have been forthcoming. ... With claims flying that Mr. Hegseth’s orders might have led to the commission of war crimes — if not by the secretary, then by senior commanders following his general orders — Mr. Trump sounded over the weekend like he was putting some distance between himself and his defense secretary.
With claims flying that Mr. Hegseth’s orders might have led to the commission of war crimes — if not by the secretary, then by senior commanders following his general orders — Mr. Trump sounded over the weekend like he was putting some distance between himself and his defense secretary. ... On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said he would not have been comfortable with orders to kill the survivors of the first strike on the fast-running boat. “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” the president said. He added, “I believe him, 100 percent.” Mr. Trump also said: “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike.”
But even as Mr. Trump was answering questions aboard Air Force One about whether his defense secretary had stepped over the legal lines with the Venezuela killings, the same defense secretary was on social media cracking jokes about the affair. Mr. Hegseth posted a meme on Sunday depicting Franklin, the turtle from a children’s book series, firing a weapon at a vessel laden with cargo from a helicopter. ... “For your Christmas wish list,” Mr. Hegseth wrote on social media. ... The joke fell flat, eliciting a storm of criticism, including from conservative social media users. “A civilized people respect life given by God and don’t treat lightly taking of life no matter how vile that life was used,” one user wrote replied to Mr. Hegseth’s post. “That meme was far from Christian. It was bloodlust.”
{snip}
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-e-sanger
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/helene-cooper
For Trump, Hegseth’s Take-No-Prisoners Approach Is a Growing Liability
Investigations are mounting into the legality of strikes that have killed scores of people in the waters off Venezuela
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with President Trump in the Oval Office earlier this year. Doug Mills/The New York Times
By David E. Sanger and Helene Cooper
David E. Sanger has covered five presidents in more than four decades at The Times, writing often about national security and issues of superpower conflict. Helene Cooper has covered the Pentagon for more than a decade, and written about national security issues for more than 30 years.
Dec. 1, 2025
Updated 6:50 p.m. ET
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been a political problem for President Trump since his confirmation in the Senate early this year, which he survived thanks to a single, tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President JD Vance. ... He survived the leaked Signal chat episode, even when it became clear he had copied classified battle plans and pasted them into an encrypted, but unclassified, messaging chain. He blamed the press, began kicking news organizations out of the Pentagon press room and insisted they sign a pledge never to seek news not approved by his public affairs office. Almost no one signed, not even his previous employer Fox News.
Now, the political price of Mr. Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon has increased. As investigations mount into the legality of strikes that have killed scores of people in the waters off Venezuela, his take-no-prisoners, leave-no-survivors approach has led even Republican supporters to demand answers. So far, few have been forthcoming. ... With claims flying that Mr. Hegseth’s orders might have led to the commission of war crimes — if not by the secretary, then by senior commanders following his general orders — Mr. Trump sounded over the weekend like he was putting some distance between himself and his defense secretary.
With claims flying that Mr. Hegseth’s orders might have led to the commission of war crimes — if not by the secretary, then by senior commanders following his general orders — Mr. Trump sounded over the weekend like he was putting some distance between himself and his defense secretary. ... On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said he would not have been comfortable with orders to kill the survivors of the first strike on the fast-running boat. “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” the president said. He added, “I believe him, 100 percent.” Mr. Trump also said: “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike.”
But even as Mr. Trump was answering questions aboard Air Force One about whether his defense secretary had stepped over the legal lines with the Venezuela killings, the same defense secretary was on social media cracking jokes about the affair. Mr. Hegseth posted a meme on Sunday depicting Franklin, the turtle from a children’s book series, firing a weapon at a vessel laden with cargo from a helicopter. ... “For your Christmas wish list,” Mr. Hegseth wrote on social media. ... The joke fell flat, eliciting a storm of criticism, including from conservative social media users. “A civilized people respect life given by God and don’t treat lightly taking of life no matter how vile that life was used,” one user wrote replied to Mr. Hegseth’s post. “That meme was far from Christian. It was bloodlust.”
{snip}
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-e-sanger
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/helene-cooper
