Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he had not noticed survivors in the water during U.S. military strikes that killed 11 people in the Caribbean in September.
His remarks, at a cabinet meeting at the White House in which he cited the “fog of war,” were the latest from Trump administration officials meant to address questions about whether the U.S. military committed a war crime when it launched a second strike on a boat on Sept. 2, killing two survivors of the initial attack who were clinging to the burning wreckage.
Mr. Hegseth had said that he watched the operation live on video before he “moved on” to his next meeting. But following news reports about the second U.S. strike, Mr. Hegseth said he “didn’t stick around” to see it.
The defense secretary said Adm. Frank M. Bradley, the commander of the operation, “made the right call,” in ordering the second strike.
“He sunk the boat, sunk the boat and eliminated the threat, and it was the right call,” Mr. Hegseth said.
The United States has killed scores of people on vessels it accuses of attempting to smuggle drugs into the country, starting with the Sept. 2 strikes, in legally disputed campaign of killing suspected smugglers at sea as if they were combatants in a war.
But now, lawmakers in both parties are demanding answers about Mr. Hegseth’s take-no-prisoners, leave-no-survivors approach.
Mr. Hegseth continues to maintain that the Sept. 2 strikes were carried out as they should have been. But on Sunday, Mr. Trump suggested otherwise.
Asked about the second strike on the survivors who were clinging to the burning wreckage, Mr. Trump said: “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump stood by Mr. Hegseth and praised Admiral Bradley.
He went on to say his administration would “start doing strikes on land, too.” He said the strikes may not be limited to Venezuela. Anyone manufacturing drugs or “selling it into our country” is subject to attack, Mr. Trump said.
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
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