A top US Navy commander ordered a second round of military strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat, the White House has confirmed.
“Admiral (Frank) Bradley worked well within his authority and the law” in ordering the additional strike, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
Leavitt confirmed Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the strikes but did not give an order to “kill everybody”, as the Washington Post reported. The second strike was reportedly done after two people survived the initial blast and were clinging to the burning vessel.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern over the report and vowed congressional reviews of the strikes.
President (Donald) Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,” Leavitt said during the Monday press briefing.
The press secretary neither confirmed the first strike left two survivors, nor that the second attack was intended to kill them.
Media reports that Hegseth had given the directive to kill all those on board the vessel during the 2 September strike have renewed concerns about the legality of US military strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Hegseth has pushed back against accusations in the report, calling them “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory”. On Monday, he tweeted that Admiral Bradley “is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support.
“I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.”
In recent weeks the US has expanded its military presence in the Caribbean and carried out a series of lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in international waters off Venezuela and Colombia, as part of what it calls an anti-narcotics operation.
More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes since early September.
The Trump administration says it is acting in self-defence by destroying boats carrying illicit drugs to the US.
The attacks have also significantly ramped up tensions with Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said he is considering the deployment of US ground forces into the country.
