Markwayne Mullin lost his cool as he was questioned about reports of the U.S. potentially committing war crimes in the Caribbean Sea.
“Why would it be true?” the senator asked State of the Union host Dana Bash on Sunday, later complaining: “I don’t know why we’re spending so much time on this!”
CNN host Bash was referring to a leak from a Sept. 2 attack during which 11 people were killed in two missile hits on a suspected drug trafficking boat near Trinidad. Sources told the Washington Post of Pete Hegseth’s approach: “The order was to kill everybody.”
After blaming the media for making a “big deal” over the anonymous source, Mullin stated: “This is not true information.”
Chased by Bash to confirm that he was certain it was a complete falsehood, the Oklahoma senator described a later situation in which survivors of a boat strike weren’t killed.
“So now we‘re saying that they did it once and they didn’t do it again? I don’t believe this at all,” he said.
“OOK Could that be because a lawyer in the Pentagon said, ‘You can’t do that again,’ and then they didn’t. They actually listened the second time. Is that possible?” asked Bash.
“No, no. Absolutely not. And I don’t know why we‘re spending so much time on this,” Mullins protested.
“The president and the secretary of war has been very clear. They’re going to use lethality against our enemies, home and abroad,” he continued.
Mullin claimed there was no chance that any of the people killed by the missile hits weren’t involved in drug trafficking.
“Are we doubting that these drug dealers are actually drug dealers? We think they’re just out there fishing?” he asked.
“Do we doubt that this is a terrorist organization that‘s killing thousands and thousands of people in our streets? What are we questioning here?”
The 48-year-old added, “Why do we care if we take them out in international water? It is a war because they have declared war on our streets.”
Mullin said he “applauds” Donald Trump and Hegseth for their firm approach to fighting cartel activities. At that point, Bash reminded him that the GOP itself had chosen to investigate the Sept. 2 operation.
After a fiery back and forth, Mullin noted: “Oversight, and there‘s nothing wrong with oversight.”
“Absolutely. It just hasn‘t always been carried out in recent months,” Bash clapped back.
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